Indiana county seeks year-long needle exchange to fight HIV


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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana county experiencing the worst HIV outbreak in state history asked health officials Wednesday to approve a yearlong needle-exchange program to combat the disease.

Gov. Mike Pence signed a law this month allowing communities to seek state approval to run needle exchanges if they can prove they're facing an HIV or hepatitis C epidemic fueled by intravenous drug use.

State health officials said Tuesday that 158 people had tested positive for HIV since December in the outbreak, which is tied to needle-sharing among drug users injecting a liquefied form of the painkiller Opana. Nearly all of the cases have occurred in Scott County, about 30 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky.

Scott County typically sees only about five new HIV cases a year, state health officials have said. The number of new cases has slowed since Pence signed an executive order in March allowing a 30-day needle-exchange program for Scott County to prevent additional infections. He later reauthorized that program through May 24.

A Pence spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about whether he plans to extend the order or allow it to expire. The state health commissioner has 10 days to approve or deny Scott County's request but can extend that timeline by an additional 10 days if more information is needed.

Scott County public health nurse Brittany Combs said Wednesday that the exchange program has produced "a lot of good results" and has led many people to enter rehabilitation programs.

"They're slowly starting to trust us," she said.

She said at least five people who are participating in the needle exchange tested negative for HIV when they started and continue to show no signs of the virus.

"To me that's a huge success," Combs said.

State health officials say 168 people are participating in the current needle exchange, which has distributed nearly 16,300 clean needles.

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