HIV outbreak in 5 Indiana counties linked to needle-sharing
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - More than two dozen people have tested positive for HIV in five southern Indiana counties during the past two months, and state health officials said Wednesday needle-sharing among painkiller abusers is mainly driving the outbreak.
Deputy State Health Commissioner Jennifer Walthall said that, as of Monday, 26 people in the largely rural counties had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS since mid-December. Another four have preliminary HIV-positive status.
Most of those infected had shared needles while injecting a liquefied form of the painkiller Opana, a prescription drug that's more potent per milligram than Oxycontin, officials said. A small number of the HIV cases were linked to unprotected sex, which is the chief way the virus is spread, Walthall said.
State Health Commissioner Jerome Adams said in a statement that "prescription drug abuse is at the heart of this outbreak." Disease specialists are interviewing those infected about their needle-sharing habits and sexual partners and working to get those people tested for HIV.
"We have the full resources of our infectious disease team and our partners on the ground making sure we reduce this risk and its spread as quickly as possible," Walthall said.
HIV cases have been confirmed in Clark, Jackson, Perry, Scott and Washington counties. The Scott County town of Austin had a large number of the cases, although it's unclear why, Walthall said. About five of those infected are prostitutes and just under 10 others are inmates in local jails or prisons, she said. Those infected range in age from 20 to 56, but most are in their mid-30s.
Indiana sees about 500 new HIV cases each year, and as of early 2013, nearly 11,000 Indiana residents had either HIV or AIDS, according to state statistics.
Dr. Melinda Campopiano, an addiction medicine expert with the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said she's not aware of any other outbreaks of HIV or other infectious diseases in the U.S. that have been linked to Opana.
However, she said the U.S. is seeing a surge of Hepatitis C cases among young injection drug users.
Campopiano said addicts who crush prescription drugs into a powder before injecting them in liquid form often damage blood vessels and surrounding tissue, raising their risk of infection by blood-borne diseases.
"For a person who can't stop using drugs or can't go into treatment, their best option is not to share injecting equipment," Campopiano said.
State Police Sgt. Jerry Goodin said he suspects heroin may also be playing a role in Indiana's recent HIV outbreaks, noting that heroin use has increased in the state during the past three to four years because it's cheaper and easier to obtain than prescription drugs.
Goodin, who's assigned to a southeastern Indiana district that includes three of the counties with HIV outbreaks, said it's tragic, but not unexpected.
"We knew this was going to come," he said. "If you've got a group of three people out there shooting needles and one them has a disease the next thing you know you've got three who've got it. And then that person uses with others and they get it. Common sense tells you this thing is going to spread."