Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 3;76(9):1678-1680.
doi: 10.1093/cid/ciad025.

Accelerating Human Immunodeficiency Virus Self-Testing in the United States: A Call to Action

Affiliations

Accelerating Human Immunodeficiency Virus Self-Testing in the United States: A Call to Action

Stephany Ma et al. Clin Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) self-testing has emerged as a tool to increase the proportion of people to know their status. Since the first HIV self-test was approved in 2012 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), global access to HIV self-tests has been bolstered by public-private partnerships to ensure equitable access in low- and middle-income countries. However, no company has applied for FDA clearance in a decade. We highlight the potential benefits to reclassifying HIV self-tests from class III to class II.

Keywords: HIV; HIVST; diagnostics; prevention; self-testing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. S. M. O. reports the following patent: Detection of HIV-1 nucleic acids by reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (patent no. 10697028; 30 June 2020); currently no money has been received for this patent, but it could be considered a diagnostic method. Y. C. M. reports consulting fees paid to the author from Abbott; a leadership or fiduciary role on the Infectious Diseases Institute board; and research grant support to Johns Hopkins University from Hologic, Cepheid, Roche, ChemBio, Becton Dickinson, and miDiagnostics. All other authors report no potential conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

Comment in

References

    1. Frieden TR, Foti KE, Mermin J. Applying public health principles to the HIV epidemic—how are we doing? N Engl J Med 2015; 373:2281–7. - PubMed
    1. DiNenno EA, Prejean J, Irwin K, et al. . Recommendations for HIV screening of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men—United States, 2017. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2017; 66:830–2. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dailey AF, Hoots BE, Hall HI, et al. . Vital signs: human immunodeficiency virus testing and diagnosis delays—United States. MMWR 2017; 66:1–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Steehler K, Siegler AJ, Kraft CS. Bringing HIV self-testing to scale in the United States: a review of challenges, potential solutions, and future opportunities. J Clin Microbiol 2019; 57:e00257-19. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization . Consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services, 2019, 2020.

Publication types