Introducing opt-out HIV testing in an acute medical admissions unit: does it improve testing uptake in those with lobar pneumonia?

Current UK National Guidelines for HIV Testing recommend universal HIV testing for all medical admissions where the local diagnosed HIV prevalence exceeds 2 per 1000 population and that those with indicator diseases should always be offered testing in any setting.1 The Royal London Hospital serves a population with a high local HIV prevalence of 6.2/1000,2 four times that of the national prevalence and, therefore, a highly relevant setting for universal HIV testing in the medical admissions unit (MAU). Bacterial pneumonia is a very common clinical indicator condition for HIV, so we used an International Classification of Diseases-10 diagnosis of ‘lobar …