Another HIV case has been detected in Penobscot County, making this the 22nd case in the region since October 2023, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
All 22 people who tested positive for HIV reported injecting drugs within a year of being diagnosed, according to the Maine CDC.
The Maine CDC is also now classifying the group of cases as an “outbreak” instead of a “cluster,” as the organization was calling it before. However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control uses the terms interchangeably with regards to HIV response activities, according to Lindsay Hammes, a spokesperson for the Maine CDC.
The new case is the first since late February when the Maine CDC announced three new cases, bringing the county’s total to 21 HIV diagnoses since October 2023. The spike over the last several months far exceeds the two new HIV diagnoses that Penobscot County has seen annually over the last five years, according to the Maine CDC.
Of the new HIV cases, 21 people also tested positive for hepatitis C and 20 reported being homeless within a year of being diagnosed, the Maine CDC found.
HIV attacks a person’s immune system, destroying cells that fight infection and disease, according to the CDC. It can be controlled with proper medical treatment, but there is no cure.
Hepatitis C is a liver infection that can be a short-term illness in some people, but becomes a chronic condition in more than half and leads to serious and life-threatening conditions, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, according to the CDC.
