{"id":336343,"date":"2025-12-08T05:04:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T05:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/336343\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T05:04:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T05:04:27","slug":"5-hiv-cases-reported-in-cumberland-county-this-year-among-people-who-inject-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/336343\/","title":{"rendered":"5 HIV cases reported in Cumberland County this year among people who inject drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"HIV-Latinos\"\t\t\tA man has blood drawn for HIV testing at Pineapple Healthcare in Orlando, Fla., in May 2024. (Phelan M. Ebenhack\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Five cases of HIV have been detected in people who inject drugs in Cumberland County so far this year.<\/p>\n

In an alert last week, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention noted the five cases diagnosed as of Nov. 17 are above the average of one case per year from 2020-24.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Maine CDC is working with on-the-ground community partners and health care providers to increase access to HIV and HCV testing in Cumberland County,\u201d the agency said in its alert, including preventive services and risk reduction counseling. \u201cCommunity partners and health care providers statewide should work to ensure these services are available in communities throughout Maine.\u201d<\/p>\n

An outbreak of HIV was declared for the Bangor area<\/a> this year, with 30 people in Penobscot County being diagnosed since October 2023.<\/p>\n

The Maine CDC recommends people be tested for HIV at least quarterly if they have heightened risk factors, such as injecting drugs. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who test positive for HIV should be immediately linked to HIV care and treatment,\u201d the alert states.<\/p>\n

The Maine CDC also recommends that people who inject drugs be connected with community resources, such as harm reduction and syringe services programs, \u201cto ensure access to sterile syringes and to address other social and behavioral health needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf syringe services programs are not available, provide prescriptions for syringes or information about nonprescription pharmacy sales,\u201d the agency\u2019s alert states.<\/p>\n

Providing the population with education about safe injection practices, such as never reusing or sharing needles, is also recommended by the Maine CDC to stem the risks of HIV contraction.<\/p>\n

For more information on HIV prevention and care, go to the Maine CDC\u2019s HIV webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man has blood drawn for HIV testing at Pineapple Healthcare in Orlando, Fla., in May 2024. (Phelan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":{"0":"post-336343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}