Next time you visit your family doctor, don’t be surprised if you’re offered an HIV test. New guidelines issued by the World Health Organization on 30 May have recommended that doctors everywhere, including richer nations, consider routinely offering the test.
The aim is to identify carriers before they unwittingly spread the virus or get too ill to benefit from treatment. In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa where HIV is rife, only 12 per cent of men and 10 per cent of women know their HIV status, while research in the US has shown that unwitting carriers account for 50 to…
