A bill to make HIV screening a routine part of medical checkups may make a dent in a new infection rate that has not declined in a dozen years.
Authored by Assemblymember Patty Berg, Assembly Bill 682 adds HIV screening to the routine battery of blood tests taken during a medical checkup.
Under current law, a physician must acquire written consent to do an HIV test and, in some cases, must provide pre-test counseling.
The Senate Health Committee passed the bill Wednesday; it is now headed to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“It’s wonderful initial news. A great first step,” said Jay Molofsky, HIV/AIDS project director for the Open Door Community Health Centers. “Of course it still has some steps to go before we can implement the initial screenings that will slow the spread of AIDS.”
According to the California State Office of AIDS, as many as 40,000 Californians are unaware that they are living with HIV.
Molofsky said 25 percent of those infected with HIV are unaware.
“Sexually transmitted diseases account for 32,000 of the 40,000 new cases annually,” Molofsky said. “The 25 percent who are unaware of infection are accounting for 54 percent of all new infections.”
In addition to slowing the spread, Molofsky said early testing enables the HIV-infected to take advantage of treatment that can delay the onset of AIDS.
“Half the people with AIDS first tested positive within 12 months of an AIDS diagnosis,” Molofsky said. “They’re the late testers. Compared to the early testers — those who test five years before an AIDS diagnosis — the late testers tend to be younger (18-29), heterosexual and less educated.”
Molofsky said the shift to annual screening with an opt-out option is a recognition that something must be done to attack the rate of new infections.
“The new infection rate over the past 12 years is still 40,000 annually,” Molofsky said. “One year it was 42,000. There’s no hard data to show pre-test counseling has made any decided difference in this rate.”
“We must increase HIV testing through medical routine testing,” Berg said. “Catching HIV in its earliest stages saves lives and slows the epidemic.”
Assemblymember Bonnie Garcia (R-Cathedral City) said the bill will “remove barriers for patients and give them access to treatment. It is an important issue and I appreciate the bipartisan support.”
The bill also has specific provisions to clarify HIV testing for pregnant women because California law treats pregnant women and HIV testing differently. |