Two more people have tested positive for HIV in Penobscot County, raising the total number of cases to 26, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
One of the new cases is the first instance since the outbreak began in October 2023 of an HIV diagnosis in a person who has not reported injecting drugs in the last year. According to the Maine CDC, 23 of the 26 people who have been diagnosed were homeless within a year of the infection being detected.
The two new cases are the first since April. Penobscot County typically has two new HIV cases per year, according to the Maine CDC.
HIV attacks a person’s immune system and interferes with their body’s ability to fight off infection and disease, according to the CDC. There is no known cure, although there is medication that can control the disease.
Nearly all of the reported cases in Penobscot County are in people who also tested positive for Hepatitis C, the Maine CDC reported.
Hepatitis C is a liver disease that can be a mild, short-term illness in some people but cause more serious, long-term issues in others, including liver cancer, according to the CDC.
Seventeen of the 26 HIV patients in Penobscot County were connected to care within 30 days of their diagnosis, the Maine CDC reported.
