Few sexually active teens in US get HIV test: CDC

	Tweet

Nearly half the HIV-positive U.S. adolescents and young adults are unaware of their infection, and less than a quarter of sexually active high school students are tested for the virus, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

Only 22 percent of sexually active high school students are tested for human immunodeficiency virus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an analysis using data from a 2007 survey of students in grades 9-12 (ages 14-18).

“At the end of 2006, an estimated 48 percent of adolescents and young adults infected with HIV were unaware of their infection, representing missed opportunities for diagnosis, treatment, and reduction in the number of new HIV transmissions,” the CDC said.

It said people aged 12 to 24 represented 4.4 percent of the estimated 1.1 million people in the United States infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Yet they represented 10 percent of the estimated 232,700 people living with the virus without knowing it.

Older high school students are most likely to have been tested for HIV, and girls are more likely to have gotten the test than boys, the CDC said in its weekly report on death and disease.

HIV testing was more common among students who had ever been taught in school about AIDS or HIV infection than among those who had not, the study found. The researchers urged more schools to include information about testing in their curriculum.

The CDC recommends that doctors offer HIV screening as part of routine checkups for U.S. high school students.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
© Copyright (c) Reuters

RELATED STORIES:
Circumcision helps stop wart virus, study finds   Erectile dysfunction in diabetes is due to selective defect in the brain   US teen pregnancy rates decline as result of improved contraceptive use   Many pregnant women may not get STD tests   Repeat chlamydia infection common in girls   Stigma among HIV-positive women complex and overlapping   New pill puts romance and spontaneity back into sex   Association of body weight with sexual function in women   Prevalence of improper condom use a public health issue worldwide   Top Cause of Painful Sex Uncovered   Vietnam to offer movies about sex on Internet   Viagra not a thrill pill   New sex-related infection passes gonorrhea   New Research on Sexual Function   Unwanted Online Sexual Exposures Decline for Youth, New UNH Research Finds

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]