HIV outbreak in Indiana.

[marylander1940]

Health officials have confirmed 55 cases of HIV in Scott County since December. A month ago, the number of confirmed cases was 24. Cooke, along with others, is advocating for more resources in handling the outbreak that is soon expected to reach triple digits

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-rampant-drug-abuse-blamed-for-hiv-spike-in-southern-indiana-20150325-story.html#page=1

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/03/26/indiana-to-declare-health-emergency-for-hiv-outbreak/70478492/

[jimboivyo]

another re confirmation that it's still out there. still killing people. still a real issue

 

practice safety!

[Guest ChrisW]

I have a friend who just moved to seattle that worked at the health department in that county and he said the reason there are so many new infections there is that funding for prevention and harm reduction has been slashed. Apparently they can't even give out clean needles to iv drug users because it's against the law or some such nonsense.

 

As for killing people that's a bit extreme jumbo it generally takes a while for hiv to progress to aids and if these folks can get treatment which they should be able to under the affordable care act they won't die and can live normal likes like the rest of us

[rguer]

 

As for killing people that's a bit extreme jumbo it generally takes a while for hiv to progress to aids and if these folks can get treatment which they should be able to under the affordable care act they won't die and can live normal likes like the rest of us

 

Assuming that the right wing doesn't succeed in killing the ACA...

 

I wonder what the correlation is between opposition to the ACA and opposition to HIV care? Between opposition to the ACA/Medicaid expansion and HIV transmission rates?

 

I bet there's a fairly strong (not 100%) correlation; many of the cities with high transmission rates are in states that don't want to provide healthcare.

 

http://www.hivplusmag.com/just-diagnosed/2014/09/22/25-us-cities-highest-rates-hiv-infection

http://www.hivplusmag.com/sites/hivplusmag.com/files/imce/uploadedimages/b/map633.jpg

[marylander1940]

Let's remember that Appalachia and the Bible belt are crystal meth central.

 

I wish one day they would apply "conservative principles" like responsibility, living within a budget, work ethic, etc to themselves and not just talk about them.

 

(I'm aware Indiana is not geographically part of Appalachia but it's so similar on many levels)

[+ quoththeraven]

The "safety" involved in this case has to do with drug use and needle-sharing, not condoms, which is usually what's meant by "safety" here.

[+ quoththeraven]

Wow, I just realized Indiana is really showing its butt lately, between this and RIFRA and the woman I just mentioned in another thread who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for feticide. Anyway, here's an article from the Washington Post detailing how stupid Governor Pence's opposition to a longer than thirty-day clean needle exchange is.

 

http://tablet.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-are-they-banned-in-24-states/2015/03/31/399a0f81b7f76c7c872b88e0f7af0583_story.html?tid=kindle-app

[mike carey]

[H]ere's an article from the Washington Post detailing how stupid Governor Pence's opposition to a longer than thirty-day clean needle exchange is.

 

There's been a supervised injecting room in the centre of Sydney for about 10 years, same spurious objections, but governments from both sides of politics haven't changed it despite pressure to do so. The same ability for health care workers to provide advice as those outlined in the WaPo article apply, clean needles are available as is emergency response for overdoses. And I can confirm the comment in the article, walking past it didn't make me want to try heroin!

[+ dutchmuch]

There is also a tie-in with Pence shutting down Planned Parenthood clinics. Imagine when you cut off HIV testing, you get an outbreak.

Republicans...

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/31/indiana-planned-parenthood_n_6977232.html

[mike carey]

More on the outbreak and the lack of a health system that contributed to it from the Guardian.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/01/indiana-hiv-outbreak-health-workers-funding