Wayne County Health Department Director Eric Coulter says the department's board of directors is moving closer to asking state health commissioner Doctor Jerome Adams to approve a needle exchange to help the county combat a surge in hepatitis C cases and a growing number of HIV cases.
 
The Palladium-Item reports Adams has so far approved such programs for southeastern Indiana's Scott County and central Indiana's Madison County.
 
The needle-exchange law approved this spring by lawmakers was spurred by an HIV outbreak in Scott County that's the largest such outbreak in Indiana history.