Data found within a report issued Wednesday show Vigo County as having the third highest in HIV prevalence rate of the 92 Indiana counties.
HIV prevalence — which measures the number of diagnosed cases of HIV in a county per 100,000 population — was included in the "Additional Measures" category of the 2015 County Health Rankings, which was developed by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
In that category, Vigo is listed as having an HIV prevalence rate of 217, trailing only Marion County — where the state's capital of Indianapolis is located — with the highest at 474, and Lake County at 232.
The data from 2010 — which the report states were from the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) — also list Vigo as having 199 HIV cases. Marion had 3,499 and Lake had 942.
Other counties in Indiana had higher numbers of cases, but a lower prevalence rate. For example, the county with the fourth-highest prevalence rate, just below Vigo, is St. Joseph County, home to South Bend. According to the data, St. Joseph's number of HIV cases was 434, but its prevalence rate is 197, which is lower than Vigo's
"This could be a function of the population," said Stephanie Johnson, associate researcher at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. "The more people you have in your community, the more that prevalence rate will vary." She said Vigo had a population recently estimated at about 108,000, while St. Joseph had about 266,000.
In an interview on Thursday, Johnson, however, said HIV prevalence measure is not part of the county health rankings data set. It is considered additional data and simply provides the number of HIV cases for each county and the prevalence rates, she said.
"HIV is an important marker for a range of risky health behaviors," according to the website's explanation of its inclusion as an additional measure. "The County Health Rankings use disease-specific measures for ranking calculations only when no other reliable source for risk factor or outcome data is available. However, this can be a valuable source of data for communities in understanding the toll that risky health behaviors take on their population and health care system."
More recent data from the Indiana State Department of Health states that there were 274 people in Vigo County who are living with HIV/AIDS. This includes cases diagnosed in other states, but the individuals are currently living in Indiana as of Dec. 31, 2014. There were 11 new HIV/AIDS reports in Vigo from January to December last year.
According to ISDH's spotlight on HIV/STD/Viral Hepatitis, there were 28 people living with HIV/AIDS in Clay County by the end of last year. Sullivan had 17, Parke had 21, Vermillion had 7 and Greene had 16.
Information was not immediately available on what parts of the local population are commonly affected or how HIV — the virus that causes AIDS — is commonly spread in the local area, but according to the CDC, HIV is spread in the United States mainly by having sex with or sharing injection drug equipment (such as needles), with someone who has HIV.
Blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid rectal fluids, vaginal fluids and breast milk from an HIV-infected person can also transmit HIV, according the CDC website.
In addition to the HIV numbers, the 2015 County Health Rankings report contains information about other health-related topics for nearly each county in the nation. It is designed to be an "easy-to-use snapshot" comparing the health of each county and provides information about factors that impact health, such as education, housing, violent crime, jobs, diet and exercise.
Vigo's HIV data can help the local population to form solutions to the problem. Diverse voices — government officials, community members, even those affected by HIV/AIDS — can come together to identify the solutions, Johnson said.
"It presents an opportunity for community leaders to start a conversation around policies and/or programs that may be focused on addressing this apparent increase in the prevalence of HIV," Johnson said. It's a chance to "have some dialogue to address this new challenge in this community," she added.