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HIV outbreak on Alaska Army base rattles public health officials
Eric Christopher Adams | Feb 21, 2012
State epidemiologists issued public health bulletins Tuesday to alert everyone in Alaska to outbreaks of syphilis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the disease that if untreated can cause AIDS.
Since January 2011, newly-reported cases of HIV in Fairbanks have more than doubled, according to Susan Jones, Alaska’s HIV/STD program manager. In any given year, between two and four new cases are reported in Fairbanks. Last year, they spiked, with at least nine individuals newly diagnosed as HIV positive.
Statewide, between 20 and 40 newly-acquired and newly-reported cases of HIV/AIDS are reported to public health officials most years, Jones said. But in 2010, the last year official numbers were reported, there were 77 cases.
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/hiv-outbreak-alaska-army-base-rattles-public-health-officials