On Friday, US Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced the government will permit the wider use of the 20-minute OraQuick oral HIV test. With the change, the test can now be used in HIV counseling centers, community health centers and doctors' offices. The government had initially approved the oral test in March mainly for hospitals and large health clinics. In addition, the government will spend almost $5 million to test intravenous drug users.

"HIV testing has never been easier or more accessible than it is today," said Thompson, announcing the change in advance of Sunday's National HIV Testing Day.

OraQuick's manufacturer, OraSure, also makes a rapid blood test. Before the rapid blood test was approved in November 2002, routine tests took up to two weeks to provide results, and each year 8,000 public clinic testers with HIV never returned for their results. About one-fourth of the 850,000 to 950,000 Americans with HIV do not know they are infected, CDC estimates.

Because some people fear needles, and the needle-free tests are safer for health workers, OraQuick may help expand efforts to test those at high risk.

Using OraQuick, a treated cotton swab is used to pick up not saliva but cells lining the mouth. The swab is placed in a vial, and infection is signaled if reddish-purple lines appear in the vial's window. Both rapid tests are more than 99 percent accurate, the Food and Drug Administration said, but people who test positive will have an additional laboratory test to reconfirm HIV infection.