Private MD News

Most states have favorable HIV testing laws, study finds

Category: HIV

State laws regarding HIV testing are increasingly catching up to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco reported that 45 states and District of Columbia now have laws that comply with CDC guidelines suggesting universal testing and lower requirements for patient consent, according to UCSF Today.

"HIV testing laws in most states no longer present a barrier to routine testing." Sara Neff, the study's lead author, told the news source. "Clinicians should understand that they don't have to be worried about state laws being an impediment to testing."

She added that Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island remain the last states with HIV testing laws that do not comply with CDC recommendations.

The health organization has called for an increase in the number of individuals who are tested for HIV because so many people are unaware that they are infected. The CDC estimates that upwards of 20 percent of the 1 million people infected with HIV do not know they have the disease.