The governor of Indiana in United States, Mike Pence, ordered on Monday, April 20, that the public health emergency declared in the state be extended as HIV outbreak increases in Scott County, a poor area in the state.
According to CNN, the HIV outbreak first started in mid-December and as at Tuesday, April 21, 135 cases had been recorded, 129 confirmed and in preliminary stages.
It is said that injection drug use, specifically of Opioid Opana prescription is the cause of the increase.
“Scott County is facing an epidemic of HIV. But this is not a Scott County problem – this is an Indiana problem,” Pence said in March, 2015.
Report says normally, the county records an average of five new cases of HIV a year.
The emergency order, which was first issued in March and expected to expire on Friday, April 24, 2015, has now been extended to May 24.
“While we’ve made progress in identifying and treating those affected by this heartbreaking epidemic, the public health emergency continues and so must our efforts to fight it,” Governor Pence said.
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