State health officials from southern Indiana confirmed 24 new cases of HIV related to needle-sharing on Thursday. From 106 last week, the number of cases has totaled to 130.
For some reason, the HIV outbreak is concentrated in Scott County, about 30 miles north of Louisville, Ky. The state launched a needle-exchange program on April 4 to prevent the further outbreak and has distributed 5,322 clean syringes to 86 people and collected 1,400 used syringes.
Needle exchange is actually prohibited in Indiana, but Gov. Mike Pence issued a temporary waiver to address the significant increase in the number of new HIV cases. Indiana records only about five new cases per year, but this year showed a significant increase, which the state believes was due to needle sharing.
"All it takes is one person who is HIV positive, sharing needles," local physician Dr. William Cooke told CBS News. "It spreads like wildfire in situations like that."
In the height of the HIV outbreak, a bill has been sent to the state senate to authorize counties to launch their own needle exchange programs during an outbreak. The lawmakers are split regarding this measure because some are concerned that it could promote drug abuse. This is despite earlier studies that needle exchange programs do not increase prescription drug abuse.
"The Centers for Disease Control, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, WHO, most agencies - in study after study - show that needle exchange programs definitely do decrease the rate of HIV infections and also all of the studies show that needle exchange programs do not promote risky behavior or increase rates of IV drug use," Dr. Deepak Ariga, an assistant professor of medicine at Indiana University Northwest, told the Chicago Tribune.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 1.2 million have HIV infection with 14 percent unaware that they have it.
