The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) is reporting a reversal from two consecutive years of declines in new H-I-V diagnoses. Jerry Harms is the agency’s H-I-V/AIDS surveillance coordinator.
The HIV Surveillance Report for 2015 shows there were 124 new HIV diagnoses last year, up from the 98 cases reported in 2014. Harms says the reason for the increase is unclear.
Harms says Iowa joins other Midwestern states, such as Wisconsin and Minnesota, that reported an increase in new HIV diagnoses in 2015. The state of Nebraska, however, reported a decrease in new cases.
The I-D-P-H report shows the number of deaths among HIV-infected persons diagnosed in Iowa continues to decrease since peaking at 103 deaths in 1995. In 2015, there were 20 HIV or AIDS-related deaths in Iowa.
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