When doctors recommend HIV screenings, young people are more likely to follow through.
A new study that will appear in the February edition of the Journal Pediatrics shows less than a quarter of teens and young adults get tested for HIV.
Just less than half of the teens and young adults living with HIV have been diagnosed.
“That lack of testing actually is thought now, if you do mathematical models, you see that a lot of the new HIV transmission of people who are not on therapy and those are people don’t know they’re infected,” says Dr. Geoff Weinberg, a pediatrician at the University of Rochester Medical Center who specializes in HIV treatment.
The study show rates of testing have remained steady over the past 10 years among most groups.
“If you have knowledge and you’ve gone into therapy and you’re on therapy, then your viral load is reduced. And if you’re in better health, then you’re at less risk for transmission,” says Weinberg.
Of the teens and young adults that were tested for HIV, most of those did so based on their doctor’s recommendation. Researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they plan to spread the word to doctors who work with young people, so more of them will screen their patients for the disease.