Officials cite improved testing as key reason why
JARED MILLER Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Thursday, November 13, 2008 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - The number of new cases of HIV in Wyoming are up this year, an increase health officials say is due in part to better access to innovative testing techniques.
The state normally sees around 10 new HIV cases per year. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Already this year, 26 cases have been reported, and the state could be on track for up to 30 new cases in 2008, according to Jerry Clemens, AIDS prevention outreach coordinator for the Natrona County Public Health Department.
Most of the new HIV cases are concentrated in the state�s most urban areas, in Natrona and Laramie counties. But more new cases are also being reported in small towns, said Debi Tucker of the nonprofit group Wyoming AIDS Project.
County health workers in Natrona and Laramie counties recently began using a rapid form of HIV testing that provides results in about 15 minutes and requires only a small amount of blood instead of a vial. That has attracted more people for testing, officials said.
More testing is also taking place during routine medical care at county health clinics, family planning clinics and during routine examinations of pregnant women, said Rob Johnston, HIV prevention coordinator for the Wyoming Department of Health.
Increased efforts to contact former sexual partners of those who test positive may also be contributing to the rising number of new HIV cases, Johnston said.
"I think we are identifying people in different venues than we had in the past," Johnston said.
The increase does not include cases where people moved to Wyoming who were already diagnosed with HIV, officials said.
A total of 321 cases of HIV/AIDS have been documented in Wyoming since 1984. Male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use have been the biggest factors in the spread of the virus in Wyoming, according to state Department of Health figures.
But women, and men who do not have sex with men make up a growing proportion of new cases of HIV, state figures show.
Females represented nearly 30 percent of all HIV cases reported between 2001-05, the latest figures available.
Contact capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or jared.miller@trib.com