HIV tests for US 13-year-olds

A US drugs firm has just received approval to conduct HIV/Aids tests on 13-year-olds.

Increasing the patient focus is in line with US Centers for Disease Control recommendations that 13 to 64-year-olds should be routinely screened for HIV, reported Market Watch.

A study of the different ways Chembio tested resulted in the green light for 13 to 17-year-olds, a recently untapped demographic.

One million people are estimated to be living with HIV in the US with 21 per cent unaware they have the virus.

In 2006, five per cent of people with HIV/Aids were aged 13 to 24 years old.

The governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger recently made it mandatory for private health insurance companies to cover the cost of HIV tests.

Opt-out testing is now being introduced opposed to risk based to curb the number of people contracting HIV.

Chembio chairman and chief executive Lawrence Siebert said: "This will increase the opportunity for testing and early diagnosis and could subsequently lower infection rates as patients become aware of their HIV status."

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