The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that the U.S. epidemic of opioid abuse could lead to more severe outbreaks of HIV and hepatitis C nationally, much like the outbreak now seen in Indiana. A health advisory the agency released Friday outlines steps that state health departments and medical providers should take to minimize the risk of that happening.
A public health emergency has been in effect in southern Indiana's Scott County since late March. According to the Indiana State Department of Health, 142 people have been diagnosed with HIV since December. Prior to the outbreak, the rural county hadn't recorded more than five cases of HIV in a given year, and in many years it recorded none.
Indiana's current HIV outbreak has been linked to the intravenous injection of oxymorphone, an oral painkiller sold under the brand name Opana. Abuse of the prescription opioid has been a common problem in southern Indiana for years and has affected many communities across the U.S.
[For more of this story, written by Anders Kelto, go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/healt...breaks-in-drug-users]
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