NCHHSTP Newsroom: New Recommendations for HIV Testing in Laboratories

NCHHSTP Newsroom: New Recommendations for HIV Testing in Laboratories

NCHHSTP Newsroom: New Recommendations for HIV Testing in Laboratories

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent this bulletin at 06/26/2014 01:13 PM EDT

This National HIV Testing Day (observed June 27), CDC is highlighting the importance of early detection of HIV by issuing new recommendations on the approach U.S. laboratories should use for HIV testing. Capitalizing on the latest available testing technologies, this new approach can diagnose HIV infection several weeks earlier than previous practice. Early diagnosis is important because people in the earliest (“acute”) stage of infection have high levels of virus in their bodies and are most likely to transmit HIV.

By putting the latest testing technology to work, CDC’s new recommendations help address a critical gap in the nation’s HIV prevention efforts.

For more information, please see our media statement from Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, or our graphic illustrating key concepts of the new testing approach in laboratories. Additional reporter resources are available on the NCHHSTP online newsroom.