There are now 40 cases connected to the HIV outbreak in Penobscot County after another case was diagnosed this week, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
This is the second case reported in March.
The initial cluster of cases in the outbreak were reported in November 2023. Almost all of the people infected have reported being homeless or injecting drugs within the last year, according to the Maine CDC.
Community organizations across the state have increased prevention efforts and testing. The Maine CDC identified a set of five cases in November that had been detected in Cumberland County last year among people who inject drugs.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff visited Penobscot County in December to assist with HIV response.
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 medication that can control the disease, but there is no known cure.
There are typically two new HIV cases per year in Penobscot County, according to the Maine CDC.
In all but two of the reported cases in Penobscot County, the people affected also tested positive for hepatitis C, according to the Maine CDC.
Hepatitis C is a liver disease that can be a mild, short-term illness for some people but can cause more serious, long-term issues for others, including liver cancer, according to the CDC.
Within 30 days of their diagnosis, nearly three-quarters of HIV patients in the Penobscot County outbreak were connected to care, and 23 of the 38 people currently living in Maine had reached viral suppression — meaning they can’t transmit HIV to others — at their most recent test, the Maine CDC reported.