On World AIDS Day, the American College of Physicians (ACP) is giving doctors a call-to-action to routinely encourage HIV screening to all of their patients older than 13 years. This new practice guideline appears on the Annals of Internal Medicine Web site at www.annals.org.

A growing number of drug-resistant strains of HIV are a threat to the effectiveness of current treatments despite anti-HIV drug cocktails decreasing the number of HIV-related deaths and improving the quality of life for HIV patients.

Using the new and highly publicized CDC guidelines for HIV screening, a university-based Emergency Department implemented opt-out screening in Washington, DC, where HIV infection rates are known to be high. Fully 60% of the patients agreed to the testing, a high percentage that may have been influenced by an ongoing district-wide campaign encouraging HIV screening.

A convenient, easy to use, and rapid alternative to blood-based HIV testing may become the new standard for field testing according to a new MUHC study. The study shows that the oral fluid-based OraQuick HIV1/2 test is 100 per cent accurate and patients' preferred choice.