Starting in mid-December, there was an outbreak of HIV in a small county in Indiana and, since then, the number of cases has gone up to 142 people. Theses cases are showing up in isolated communities where families use and share needles as a "community activity." As of March, Indiana has declared a public health emergency and the state is bringing in resources from across the nation to help treat the infected people and educate others about the situation. It's reported that the prescription opioid, Opana, is what is causing many people to become infected. Officials are using this outbreak as a severe reminder that HIV and AIDS are not gone and we must pay attention to what we are doing.
This article is a prime example of how history repeats itself. While HIV has been around for a while, it hasn't peaked this high since the 1980s, when doctors were seeing an average of 35,000 cases. Many of the people that have tested positive were younger and therefore probably not as educated about the dangers of sharing needles as they should be. It's a shame that so many people are getting the virus and I hope the situation gets under control fast.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/24/health/hiv-indiana-spreads/index.html
I agree with you in that there needs to be more education about the dangers of sharing needles.
ReplyDeleteThis is terrible! One would think that with previous outbreaks that we would be more careful.
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