The Indiana State Department of Health announced Friday it will retest nearly 300 "high-risk" people who've had contact with HIV-positive patients linked to the state's HIV outbreak.
The Centers for Disease Control is sending 10 diseases intervention specialists to Indiana to help with the effort. They will retest anyone who hasn't had a repeat HIV test in the past 30 days.
"HIV can take up to three months to diagnose depending on the test used, how long it takes the virus to multiply in a person's body, when someone was exposed," says State Epidemiologist Pam Pontones. "So it can take a while for the test to become positive."
Pontones says the results could give the state a better idea of where the outbreak stands and whether it's over.
"Usually with most diseases we will look at a window of two incubation periods from the most recent time a person tested positive," she says.
Testing will run Nov. 7-22.
Since the outbreak started early this year, 181 people have tested positive for HIV. Most of the cases have been linked to intravenous drug use in Scott County.