HIV tests hit all-time high in U.S.

The number of American adults who have ever been tested for HIV reached record numbers last year, the New York Times reports.

By the end of 2009, an estimated 45 percent of adults had been tested for the virus at some point in their lives, up 5 percent from three years earlier.

The numbers came from a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In 2006, the agency began asking doctors to encourage patients to be screened for the disease, and the country’s testing rate made modest gains, according to the news source.

However, it concludes that more than half the country remains untested and that many Americans may carry HIV unknowingly, potentially infecting others and gradually developing AIDS themselves.

Individuals who believe they have contracted HIV or any other sexually transmitted disease may consider using online testing services to establish their level of sexual health.

Of the more than one million Americans living with HIV, one in five does not know they have the disease, according to the CDC.