A new HIV case was reported in Penobscot County this week, raising the total number of cases associated with the outbreak to 46, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The outbreak began in October 2023. Nearly all of the people infected have reported injecting drugs or being homeless within one year of their diagnosis, according to the Maine CDC.
The case reported this week is the first since July that’s been diagnosed as part of this outbreak. Public health officials have emphasized that the actual number of cases in the outbreak is likely higher than what’s been detected.
The Maine CDC recently started updating its public-facing dashboard tracking HIV case counts every other week instead of weekly. The agency also expanded its criteria in April for counting a case as part of the outbreak, now including cases linked to the outbreak through molecular surveillance, which allows scientists to identify particular strains of a disease and track transmission networks.
Community organizations across the state have ramped up testing and prevention efforts as the outbreak continues. Included in the outbreak are a set of five cases the Maine CDC identified in November that had been detected in Cumberland County among people who inject drugs.
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.
Penobscot County typically has two new HIV cases per year, according to the Maine CDC.
In nearly all of the reported cases in Penobscot County, the people affected also tested positive for hepatitis C, the Maine CDC reported.
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.
80% of HIV patients in the Penobscot County outbreak were connected to care within 30 days of their diagnosis, and 71% of the 44 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.