Southern Indiana – HIV has been running loose in the state of Indiana; the state has a total of 130 reported cases of HIV since December. The health department has added that the number is likely to increase as more people get tested for the deadly disease. It has also been found that the HIV […]
Southern Indiana – HIV has been running loose in the state of Indiana; the state has a total of 130 reported cases of HIV since December. The health department has added that the number is likely to increase as more people get tested for the deadly disease.
It has also been found that the HIV cases are mostly being reported from Scott County and Austin. Drug addictions, poverty and improper sanitary conditions have so far been the stated cause of this HIV outbreak.
The executive director of an agency that delivers HIV and AIDS services out of Merrillville, Tammy Morris, stated that the case could have been the same for any other county or state in the country. He also stated that without proper tests, it is impossible to tell if someone is suffering from the disease. People appear to be very healthy, hiding any physical symptoms of the disease.
The source of this outbreak has been traced back to a prescription use of the painkiller Opana, as per health officials. The officials have also confirmed that the drug is not being prescribed in Scott County, but the origin of the drug is yet to be found.
The pill, once it is crushed and liquefied, can be enough for almost eight injections, which are then mostly shared. In comparison, a bag of heroin would be for single use only. Additionally, Opana is also being sold out on the street, at a price of $160 a pill.
However, experts say that the drug is not as widely used as heroin in the region. Even though, Opana is thought to be the major cause of the outbreak, health officials have warned that sharing of just about any drug can cause the problem.
Aaron Kochar, the director of education and prevention at Porter-Starke services, outlined that opiate addiction is itself an epidemic.The alarming part is that we can see it in our communities all the time. He also stated that Opana, being an extended release pill, is very potent when injected.
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I put a great deal of thought into my comment which I posted last night (4/20/15) and saw today that it was removed, never posted.
So, I give it a review here:
First, this news comes from Indiana which we already know has been having problems relating to equality and discrimination.
It is common knowledge that people associate AIDS with gays, although the statistics have been changing over the past two decades so that now the greater percentage of those becoming infected and infecting others with HIV are intravenous drug users. I have my doubts that this is really a new problem in Indiana, but those whose minds are influenced by prejudicial thought may suppose that such publicity as this is necessary while they attempt to eradicate their state of homosexuality. People are inclined to believe that the presence of HIV results from the presence of homosexuals, while ignoring the actual issue of IV drug use. The article comments that the cause is “drug addiction, poverty, and improper sanitary conditions”; allowing the minds of an anti-gay-prejudiced community to work on this bit of information, many will suppose it to mean that gays (people already associated in the public consciousness with AIDS epidemic) are also filthy, impoverished drug-addicts. Although this is not being stated outright, the prejudice exists, and, not to point out the reality that IV drug users are no more likely to be gay than any other cross-section of the community is irresponsible journalism; at best, this writing lacks and does not bring about awareness of the problem of shared use of needles by drug-users.
Testing is mentioned, but the need for testing is not being discussed here; instead the writer panders to fear of murderous infected people who hide their symptoms and go about knowingly infecting others. Again, this may not be said outright in the article, but what is not said demonstrates the lack of understanding on the part of the writer and the readership. People who are infected with HIV may appear to be healthy and symptoms can hide, true, but, statistically, there are really very few people who knowingly infect others; infection is most likely to spread because people are unaware of their status.
This article presents issues and problems without really discussing solutions such as free testing, education outreach, affordable treatment and prevention by clean needle distribution.
The sketchy information about a prescribed drug that can apparently intensify or lengthen the high of heroine seems just enough to provide intrigue for users; it’s practically an advertisment.
[Tammy Morris must either be transgender, the writer having refused to call her by a feminine pronoun, or a male named Tammy, or the writer simply made a typo, calling her “he”, unless we give the benefit of the doubt that this writer actually was responsible enough to call a person named Tammy by a masculine pronoun because it is the individuals’ chosen gender identity.
But, this is getting away from the point…]