INDIANAPOLIS (AP): State health officials say southeastern Indiana's HIV outbreak tied to needle-sharing among intravenous drug users has now reached 153 confirmed cases.
That's up from a total of 150 confirmed and preliminary positive cases that were reported by the state last Thursday.
Nearly all of the cases in Indiana's largest-ever HIV outbreak have occurred in Scott County, about 30 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky. Officials say the outbreak is being largely driven by needle-sharing among IV drug users who injected a liquefied form of the painkiller Opana.
Gov. Mike Pence has authorized a needle-exchange program in Scott County to combat the outbreak.
Nearly 290 people are taking part in that exchange. That program has distributed 13,000 clean needles through an outreach center in Austin, the small city that's the outbreak's epicenter.
