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Robert W. Wood, MD; Carol Dunphy, ARNP, MN; Keith Okita, BA; Paul Swenson, PhD

Arch Intern Med. 2003;163:1857-1859.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

INTRODUCTION

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's¹ 5-year strategic plan for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention seeks to reduce the proportion of persons who are unaware of their HIV infection from the currently estimated level of 25% to 5%. Achieving this goal will require testing of increased numbers of persons, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that "providers in all settings . . . should ideally recommend [HIV counseling, testing, and referral (CTR)] to all clients on a routine basis to ensure that all clients who could benefit from CTR receive these services."^2(p7) Even with tests as accurate (>99% sensitive and >99% specific)³ as the current third-generation HIV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) coupled with Western blot or other confirmatory tests, an increasing number of false-positive results may be anticipated when large numbers of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

REPORT OF CASES

CASE 1

CASE 2

COMMENT

From the Department of Medicine, University of Washington, and the HIV/AIDS Program, Public Health–Seattle & King County, Seattle, Wash. The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.