Southeastern Indiana’s HIV outbreak reaches 166 cases
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – State health officials say 166 people have now tested positive for HIV in a southeastern Indiana outbreak tied to needle-sharing among intravenous drug users.
The 163 confirmed cases and three preliminary positive cases are up from a total of 163 cases last week.
Nearly all of the cases in Indiana’s largest-ever HIV outbreak have occurred in Scott County, about 30 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky. Officials say the outbreak has been largely driven by needle-sharing among people injecting a liquefied form of the painkiller Opana.
State health officials say a state-authorized needle-exchange program in Scott County that’s aimed at combatting the outbreak now has 182 participants. That program has distributed 24,000 clean needles and collected nearly 23,700 used needles.