Indiana State Department of Health

Despite assurances from officials that local transmission of the Zika virus is unlikely in Indiana, the Indiana Department of Health is set to receive millions of dollars from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with hopes of preventing the virus.  

The CDC is sending $3.6 million Indiana’s way so the state’s health department can better monitor Zika and aid in prevention efforts.

More women in Indiana are choosing to abort pregnancies with the so-called “abortion pill,” even while the total number of procedures is decreasing in the state.

The vast majority of abortions are done using one of two procedures. So-called “chemical” or “medical” procedures use a pill to abort a fetus at home. “Surgical” abortions, which are also referred to as "suction curettage,” use a vacuum-like device to suction out fetal tissue. Both methods are legal in Indiana and cost approximately the same.

More than 500 pharmacies and treatment centers across the state can now distribute naloxone without a prescription under a new standing order from the Indiana state department of health.

The barriers to obtaining the overdose intervention drug have been falling throughout the last decade as the number of drug overdoses related to heroin and other opioids has increased statewide.

Indiana health officials are endorsing a new set of guidelines for emergency departments prescribing opioids for acute pain.

The Governor’s Task Force on Drug Enforcement, Treatment and Prevention voted Tuesday to help the Indiana State Medical Association and the Indiana Hospital Association — which wrote the guidelines — distribute the information to the state’s emergency rooms.

Guidance includes when an emergency room doctor should prescribe a painkiller, to whom a doctor should give the medicine and how large a prescription is appropriate.

The Indiana State Department of Health is looking to broaden its scope when it comes to preventing sexual violence.

The state has released an updated version of its Sexual Violence Primary Prevention Plan, which focuses on stopping rape before it happens.

Indiana’s last plan, released in 2010, focused on creating connections between state and local agencies, identifying priority populations to target, and finding data-based strategies to help prevent rape.

The new plan maintains similar goals, but opens the door to connecting more people, not just larger agencies.

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the range of the mosquito primarily responsible for carrying the Zika virus was more widespread than originally expected. Even though the new map contains Indiana, public health experts say the likelihood for native Hoosier infections is slim.

The primary vector for the Zika virus, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is found in tropical and semi-tropical climates, but the CDC has warned it could be present in the southern part of Indiana, too.

Purdue University announced Wednesday the school is investigating five probable cases of the mumps virus on its West Lafayette campus.

The school joins three other schools playing host to mumps outbreaks so far this year.

State health department data says the largest mumps outbreaks have occurred at Indiana University and Butler University, who have reported 17 and 24 confirmed cases, respectively.

The Indiana State Department of Health and Hear Indiana are working to get more Indiana children who are deaf or hard of hearing access to hearing aids, covering a gap in health insurance coverage.

The new Hearing Aid Assistance Program of Indiana, or HAAPI, expects to help about 600 Indiana children in the next two years. Executive director of the state’s Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education Christine Moody says hearing aids can cost up to $6,000, and they aren’t always covered by insurance.       

The state has reported fewer than 20 influenza-related deaths so far this winter. That’s less than one-sixth of fatality rate from this time last year, when 132 had died by the end of February.

State respiratory epidemiologist Reema Patel says the low numbers are due to luck of the draw…this year, the state is seeing more of the milder H1N1 flu strain, instead of another common strain, H3N2

State health officials on Tuesday confirmed the first case of Zika virus in Indiana.

The person is a non-pregnant resident who recently traveled to Haiti, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.

The state will not identify the individual, but says the illness was not severe enough to require hospitalization.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the infection was Zika virus.

State Health Commissioner Jerome Adams says he expects additional travel-related cases in Indiana.

The Indiana State Department of Health says they’ve diagnosed four new cases of HIV linked to the Scott County outbreak.

That brings the total number of people infected up to 188.

The Indiana State Department of Health says all of the new cases involve people who were identified as contacts of others previously diagnosed with HIV.

The majority of the cases associated with the outbreak have been linked to intravenous drug use.

State Epidemiologist Pam Pontones says those at risk for HIV should be retested every three months.