One in Two Youths Are Unaware of Their HIV Infection
Nearly half of HIV-positive young people don’t realize that they’ve been infected, according to U.S. health officials. In fact, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than a quarter – 22 percent – of sexually active high school students are tested for the virus, which causes AIDS. “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. Using data from a 2007 survey of ninth- to 11th-graders, the CDC found that people ages 12 to 24 represented 4.4 percent of the estimated 1.1 million people in the United States infected with HIV. Still, that number represented 10 percent of the estimated 232,700 people living with the virus without knowing it. The CDC recommends that doctors offer HIV screening as part of routine checkups for U.S. high school students.
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