PENOBSCOT COUNTY — The number of people affected by Penobscot County’s HIV outbreak continues to climb.

There are now 41 confirmed cases since October of 2023, according to the most recent update from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Prior to the outbreak, the county saw an average of just two cases per year.

“In talking with national experts, our two key strategies right now are getting as many people who have HIV into viral suppression and getting as many people [as possible] who are high risk onto pre-exposure prophylaxis,” Bangor Public Health and Wellness Director Jennifer Gunderman told the city’s government operations committee on Monday. 

“And, as best as we can, get them on the long-acting one that lasts six months,” Gunderman said.

The committee also continues to promote testing and education.

According to Maine CDC data, 95% of cases have been linked to injection drug use within one year of diagnosis and 90% of people who have been infected were unhoused within one year of diagnosis.

“We know, in working with this population, sometimes they’ll get vouchers and get housed or maybe they’ll go into shelter and then they may come out of shelter, or they’ll get evicted,” said Gunderman. “There’s just this fluid movement in and out of housing.” 

Gunderman said the rate at which new cases are confirmed has been steady recently but remains unpredictable.

“What I’ve noticed over the past couple of months is that it’s been a trickle. It’s been one case this month, one case that month, one case this month,” said Gunderman. “That could change tomorrow.”

Officials previously told Spectrum News this is likely Maine’s largest HIV outbreak in history.

Community organizations and the city of Bangor have ramped up testing efforts dramatically since the start of the outbreak. 

Visit bangorpublichealth.org to learn about testing options.