11 Million More Adults Tested for HIV for the First Time in 2006-2009
"The number of adults tested for HIV reached a record high in 2009, according to an analysis of national survey data released today in a CDC Vital Signs report. Last year 82.9 million adults between 18 and 64 reported having been tested for HIV. This number represents an increase of 11.4 million people since 2006, when CDC recommended that HIV testing become a routine part of medical care for adults and adolescents, and that people at high risk of infection be tested at least once a year. Despite this progress, 55 percent of adults—and 28.3 percent of adults with a risk factor for HIV—have not been tested.

"Today's news shows that we have had progress increasing testing, and that more progress is both necessary and possible," said Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., CDC director. "With most adults and with nearly a third of high-risk people having never been tested for HIV, we need to do more to ensure that all Americans have access to voluntary, routine and early HIV testing in order to save lives and reduce the spread of this terrible disease."

The December Vital Signs report indicates that the percentage of adults who had been tested at least once in their lives increased to 45 percent in 2009, after holding steady at approximately 40 percent from 2001 to 2006..."