Table 2 US Preventive Services Task Force Grade A Recommendations for HIV Screening*

A person is considered at increased risk for HIV infection if he or she reports one or more individual risk factors or receives health care in a high-prevalence or high-risk clinical setting. HIV Risk factors include:

• Men who have had sex with men after 1975.

• Men and women having unprotected sex with multiple partners.

• Past or present injection drug users.

• Men and women who exchange sex for money or drugs or have sex partners who do.

• Individuals whose past or present sex partners were HIV-infected, bisexual, or injection drug users.

• Persons being treated for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

• Persons with a history of blood transfusion between 1978 and 1985.

• Persons who request an HIV test despite reporting no individual risk factors.

High-risk clinical settings:

• STD clinics,

• Correctional facilities,

• Homeless shelters,

• Tuberculosis clinics,

• Clinics serving men who have sex with men, and

• Adolescent health clinics with a high prevalence of STDs.

High-prevalence settings:

• High-prevalence settings are defined by the CDC as those known to have a 1% or greater prevalence of infection among the patient population being served.

Clinicians should screen all pregnant women for HIV

*As defined by the US Preventive Services Task Force, screening means counseling and testing.