In an effort to help stop the spread of HIV among teens, the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends routine screening for adolescents who live in certain high risk communities. In areas where more than 1 in every 1000 people is infected with the virus or the HIV prevalence is unknown, pediatricians should offer testing at least once to all teens between the ages of 16 to 18 regardless of sexual history. Read the full article to learn more.

UPDATE: Numerous studies have concluded that current tests do not reproducibly detect Murine leukemia viruses (MLV), including xenotropic-MLV-related virus (XMRV/MLV), in blood samples from people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Two journals have now retracted previously published papers that reported finding evidence of a link between CFS and MLV-related viruses. 

A new guideline from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends routine cardiovascular screening with cholesterol tests for pre-adolescents and young adults. It advises that all youths should have cholesterol screening tests performed during well visits once between the ages of 9 and 11 and again between ages 17 and 21.

Babesiosis is the most common parasitic blood disease in the U.S. Incidence of the tick-borne disease has been increasing in recent years and now the CDC has published a report noting an increase in babesiosis related to blood transfusions. Effective and efficient donation testing is needed in those areas that have reported cases of babesiosis, but developing a test that is sufficiently sensitive and specific has presented some challenges.