CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin on Monday presented an investigation in Congress with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into an HIV outbreak in West Virginia’s largest county.
The West Virginia Democrat called for the investigation on behalf of the Kanawha County Commission two months after a CDC official warned that the county outbreak was “the most worrying.” in the United States.”
Commission President Kent Carper said in a statement that the outbreak “is a major public health issue and deserves our full understanding”.
In a letter to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, Manchin called on the CDC to review the commission’s concerns and respond on Friday.
On Monday, Manchin released a letter from the CDC saying he was eager to meet with public health officials. He said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV / AIDS, would be included in the meeting.
In early February, Dr. Demeter Daskalakis, the CDC’s head of HIV prevention, made a presentation at a meeting of a working group on HIV in Kanawha County.
“It’s possible that the current case count represents the tip of the iceberg,” Daskalakis said. “There are probably many more undiagnosed cases in the community. We are concerned that transmission is underway and that the number of people living with HIV will continue to rise if no urgent action is taken. “
The commission’s letter to Manchin asked whether the CDC had completed an official investigation into the county’s HIV increase. The letter said the commission was concerned that statements referring to the outbreak as most worrying in the nation “be made without fictitious and empirical evidence”.
Until 2014, only 12.5% of HIV cases in West Virginia were the result of intravenous drug use. In 2019, 64.2% were, according to data from the state health department. The increase was mainly due to clusters in Kanawha and Cabell counties.
Kanawha County, which includes Charleston and has 178,000 residents, had two cases of intravenous drug-related HIV in 2018. The number grew to 15 in 2019 and at least 35 last year. said Shannon McBee, a state epidemiologist.
In comparison, New York City, with a population of more than 8 million, recorded 36 HIV-related cases of intravenous drug use in 2019, according to the CDC. Daskalakis said counties in other states with similar populations to Kanawha had an average of less than one HIV diagnosis among people who injected drugs.
The increase, grouped primarily around the capital Charleston and the city of Huntington, is being attributed at least in part to the cancellation in 2018 of a needle exchange program that offered clean syringes to users of injectable drugs that could not completely abandon the habit.
Needle exchange programs are included in the CDC’s recommendations for controlling disease outbreaks among intravenous drug users. These programs exist in dozens of states, but they are not without critics, including in West Virginia, who say they do not do enough to prevent or stop drug abuse.
With less than a week to go before the regular session, the state legislature is studying a bill to regulate needle exchange suppliers.
The non-profit organization Solutions Oriented Addiction Response provides clean-needle addicts in Charleston and the group shares information about HIV testing with residents, including the homeless. SOAR co-founder Sarah Stone has said the legislation could close her group’s needle exchange program.
Citing the pending state bill, Charleston City Council adjourned Monday night a vote on a proposed needle change ordinance until April 19th.