INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Federal experts are being brought in to try to contain a southern Indiana
HIV outbreak that has grown to 55 confirmed cases and 13 other preliminary
positive cases, the Indiana State Department of Health said Friday.
A medical team from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will arrive in Scott County
on Monday to help state staff with follow-up contacts of HIV-positive
individuals and data analysis, the agency said.
“We are engaging
local, state, and national partners to determine where we can most
effectively focus our efforts,” Health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams said in
a news release. “Extra care is being taken to invest resources in getting
people off drugs and into treatment, since drug abuse is the clear driving
force behind this outbreak.”
Most of those
infected had shared needles while injecting the painkiller Opana, a
prescription drug that’s more potent than Oxycontin, the agency has said.
Some of the HIV cases have been linked to unprotected sex.
The health
department first reported the outbreak in late February, when it said 26
cases had been diagnosed over the previous two months in five counties:
Clark, Jackson, Perry, Scott and Washington. All of the current cases are
limited to those counties, agency spokesman Amy Reel said.
There were 405
cases of HIV diagnosed in Indiana in 2012, the most recent year for which
the statistic was available on the department’s website.
The department also
said it has created a public awareness campaign dubbed “You Are Not Alone”
that provides information on drug abuse, safe sex, needle disposal and HIV
testing and treatment. The three-month campaign that began Friday will
include radio, digital and social media ads and billboards along Interstate
65.
The department’s
HIV hotline with information about testing locations and care can be reached
at 866-588-4948.