You may have heard about the HIV outbreak in Scott County, Indiana < /a > . (Not sure how much of this the grand poobahs at New England Journal of Medicine will let you read, but I ' ll run it down for you.) < br / > < br / > Thi..."> You may have heard about the HIV outbreak in Scott County, Indiana < /a > . (Not sure how much of this the grand poobahs at New England Journal of Medicine will let you read, but I ' ll run it down for you.) < br / > < br / > Thi..." /> You may have heard about the HIV outbreak in Scott County, Indiana < /a > . (Not sure how much of this the grand poobahs at New England Journal of Medicine will let you read, but I ' ll run it down for you.) < br / > < br / > Thi..." />

When ideology trumps reality

< br / > (I took a few days off to rest my brain. Results are mixed, but I ' m back.) < br / > < br / > < a href= " http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1515195 " > You may have heard about the HIV outbreak in Scott County, Indiana < /a > . (Not sure how much of this the grand poobahs at New England Journal of Medicine will let you read, but I ' ll run it down for you.) < br / > < br / > This is a rural area, almost entirely white, with high unemployment and poverty. The governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, is now the Vice Presidential candidate of the Republican party. Prior to 2015, with Pence ' s backing, Indiana outlawed needle exchange programs. Needle exchange has been shown to substantially reduce the risk of transmission of HIV and Hepatitis C virus (HCV); and it does not increase the prevalence of injection drug use. On the contrary, by bringing users into contact with service providers, it increases the chance that people will enter treatment. However, conservatives have succeeded in banning the practice in many states using the argument that it " enables " illicit drug use. Of course, addicts will inject any way they have to, and if they can ' t get clean needles, they ' ll share. < br / > < br / > One more thing -- free HIV testing had not been available in Scott County since the Planned Parenthood clinic closed in 2013. < br / > < br / > Early in 2015, a disease intervention specialist (DIS) discovered a cluster of 11 HIV infections in Scott County. A DIS is a...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs