Federal Officials Consider Testing All Adults In A Community For AIDS

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The New York Times reports that "Federal health officials are preparing a plan to study a bold new strategy to stop the spread of the AIDS virus: routinely testing virtually every adult in a community, and promptly treating those found to be infected. The strategy is called 'test and treat,' and officials say the two sites for the three-year study will be the District of Columbia and the Bronx - locales with some of the nation's highest rates of infection with human immunodeficiency virus."

Officials say this is "just a first step" and that the "goal is not to measure whether 'test and treat' actually works to slow an epidemic, but whether such a strategy can even be carried out, given the many barriers to being tested and getting medical care." Dr. Shannon L. Hader, director of the HIV/AIDS administration in D.C.'s Department of Health, said in the article that "as many as 5 percent of the adults in the District of Columbia are infected - a rate ... comparable with those in West Africa - and one-third to one-half do not even know they harbor the virus. ... In 2006, only about half of Washington residents who had a new diagnosis of H.I.V. saw a doctor about the problem within six months" (Okie, 10/27).

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.

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