Nearly everyone agrees more voluntary HIV testing is a good thing -- a critically needed thing. People who don't know they are HIV-positive -- and according to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, 10,000 Illinoisans are in the dark, 8,000 of them in the city, at least two-thirds of them people of color -- are putting themselves and those with whom they have relations at serious risk. Individuals who test positive, knowing of their condition, have a much better chance of surviving it through treatment and counseling.

Making HIV testing a routine part of people's health care, as the Centers for Disease Control is determined to do -- with patients' knowledge and with patients having the right to not be tested -- seems to be a good way to expand these screenings. But the CDC's push to eliminate the requirement of written consent for the tests, as well as pre-test counseling, has the potential to do more harm than good. So, then, does a bill before the Illinois House that in its current form endorses those CDC guidelines.

HIV is anything but a routine disease. Unlike cancer or heart disease, it carries a powerful stigma, particularly in certain low-income communities, where a large percentage of people -- black males especially -- resist testing. Dire consequences can come from administering an HIV test to individuals who don't know they don't have to take it, aren't educated about the infection and ways to fight it, and don't yet have a support group to help get them through. Doctors and AIDS activists see the written consent as essential to the cause of protecting HIV patients' basic rights.

In New York, public hospitals have shown it's possible to greatly increase HIV testing by incorporating it into routine medical care -- without eliminating the requirement of informed, written consent. By going with a rapid testing program, streamlining and diversifying counseling and making testing available in emergency departments, outpatient clinics and other facilities away from the usual spots, New York increased the number of those tested in 2006 by a whopping 63 percent over 2005 and doubled the number of HIV-positive patients identified.

Proponents of the Illinois bill, sponsored by Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago), have said they're flexible on the matter of signed consent and counseling. It remains to be seen, though, if federal funds targeted for HIV testing are tied to the strict adoption of the CDC's guidelines. Illinois Reps. Bobby Rush, Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky have written a letter asking for clarification. Clearly, the best medicine here would be a compromise by the CDC that preserves a system proven to work well.

Online at: http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/368591,CST-EDT-edits03a.article.