CDC Recommends

Drug companies and makers of oral tests stand to benefit significantly from this change of emphasis. It is expected that tests which are now administered at hospitals and clinics will soon be available over the counter. People interested in testing themselves will be able to do it at home. This ought to lead to a significant increase in sales of HIV testing kits.

It is also hoped that early detection will lead to less transmission of the disease. A recent CDC survey found that sexually-active adults altered their sexual behavior patterns after they were diagnosed with HIV. They were less likely to engage in unprotected sexual activity, in plenty of cases opting for a condom or for not engaging in sex at all.

Some argue that as in so plenty of areas within the health industry, efforts aimed at prevention will get replaced by promises of a speedy cure brought to us compliments of the brilliantly influential and increasingly invasive drug companies.

There ought to even be a rise in HIV treatment drugs as hundreds of thousands of people learn they have HIV and start treatment with anti-HIV drugs. Currently anti-HIV drugs account for about $6-billion in sales in the U.S. That number ought to increase dramatically if the new testing procedures show to be effective.