ELKHART — Elkhart County and surrounding areas are seeing a rise in the number of HIV cases reported in 2016.
According to AIDS Ministries/AIDS Assist of North Indiana, a ministry that has worked in the region for over 25 years helping individuals suffering with HIV/AIDS, 42 new HIV cases have been reported in Elkhart, LaPorte, Pulaski, Marshall, Kosciusko and St. Joseph counties.
The rise in new cases concerns Rose Silas, a client services manager at AIDS Ministries.
“We don’t normally see that many new diagnoses come in,” she said. “A lot of it has to do with younger kids having a lack of education on the subject.”
Overall, AIDS Ministries has seen an increase in the number of people the organization is helping, from around 399 up to 440 to 450 individuals. Silas said part of the blame falls on people using heroin and sharing needles, but carelessness among younger individuals is the biggest factor at the moment.
“The stigma of having the disease is alive and well,” she said. “A lot of people don’t understand that the No. 1 way to get the infection is through unprotected sex. They have short-term memories and assume they have not put themselves at risk in the past, so they don’t bother to get tested.”
Sex and dirty needles
New HIV cases being reported in the region could come from a variety of sources, said Elkhart County Health Officer Dr. Daniel Nafziger. Individuals could have moved into the area that had been diagnosed somewhere else.