A U.S. government-backed panel of doctors and scientists is recommending that everyone between 15 and 65 get tested for HIV — the virus that causes AIDS.

The influential Preventive Services Task Force on Monday said its previous recommendation for testing was only for high-risk individuals. But now it says as many as 25 percent of the more than 1 million Americans infected with HIV do not know they have it.

Advocates for AIDS patients call Monday's recommendation a “monumental shift” in how HIV can be prevented, diagnose and treated.

Experts say early diagnosis can cut the transmission risk for AIDS by 96 percent.