Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. I am a student in The Health Services dept. at University of Phoenix and in my ethics class I was asked to find out if someone with the AIDS virus had to tell the Health Department or can they keep their medical condition completely cofidential? I mean confidential except to their doctors.
First of all, all cases of confirmed AIDS (as opposed to HIV infection are reported by law to the CDC in Atlanta.)
As for HIV, this question has different answers from state to state. In my state of Florida, all positive HIV tests are reported to the state. They are reported as a positive test, they are not reported with the name of the patient attached.
It is never the responsibility of the patient to report their test results to the state.
Most HIV tests are "confidential," meaning that it is a restricted part of the patient's medical records, but that if someone had access to those records, they could determine the patient's HIV status.
Anonymous testing, which cannot be linked to the patient's name or social security number is available at a limited number of sites.
I hope this helps. I recommend you call an AIDS Service Organization in your area to see what the local laws are.
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