Health
USPSTF offers new HIV screening recommendation
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 18, 2005
All pregnant women, not just those at risk for contracting HIV, should be screened for HIV infection, according to a new recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
The updated recommendation, published in the July 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, is based on evidence that currently available tests accurately identify pregnant women who are HIV-infected and that recommended treatments can dramatically reduce the chances that an infected mother will transmit HIV to her infant, according to the task force.
The task force is an independent panel of experts in prevention and primary care supported by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Recent evidence indicates that prenatal counseling and HIV testing has gained wider acceptance among pregnant women and that universal testing increases the number of women diagnosed and treated for HIV before delivery. Recommended treatment of HIV-infected pregnant women has been shown to significantly reduce the number of women who pass the virus to their newborns.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/07/18/hlbf0718.htm.
