( CNN ) The number of new HIV infections in a rural Indiana county has grown , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . The institute is working with state health leaders to control the `` severe outbreak , '' which has spread among users of a prescription opioid called Opana . The outbreak has been ongoing since mid-December . As of Friday , 142 people have tested positive for HIV , with 136 confirmed cases and six more with preliminary positive test results , all in rural Scott and Jackson counties . This is a huge number of cases for an area that has a population of only a few thousand people . The CDC and state health leaders held a news conference Friday to talk about the new numbers and about the growing threat of the spread of disease from IV drug use , especially in isolated rural areas that have sparse health resources . Scott County , the epicenter of the outbreak , has only one doctor who deals with infectious disease , but the doctor is not an HIV specialist , the State Department of Health said . Since the rampant HIV outbreak was first noticed in mid-December , the state has tried to flood the area with additional resources . Indiana declared a public health emergency in that county in March . Indiana University has sent health volunteers to provide a clinic , open once a week to help treat people and test them for HIV . These workers are also going door to door to try to educate the population about the danger of sharing needles . So far , 33 patients have visited the temporary clinic , which is starting to see patients return to seek treatment . It 's no coincidence that many of the cases of the newly infected there are younger people `` who were n't around in the '80s and '90s when HIV was at its peak , '' Dr. Jonathan Mermin said . In the 1980s , doctors were seeing an average of 35,000 new HIV infections among IV drug users , and that figure has been down 90 % nationally , he said . So people are n't as aware about the danger of sharing needles . Mermin is the director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS , Viral Hepatitis , STD , and TB Prevention . Education will be key , he emphasized . Indiana Gov . Mike Pence also signed a 30-day executive order that allows for a needle exchange . It was set to expire Friday , but he extended the order another 30 days Tuesday . Needle exchanges have been scientifically shown to reduce new infections . The state is also offering job services to people in the area . Dr. Joan Duwve , the chief medical consultant with the Indiana State Department of Health , spoke at length about how communities all along the Ohio River in her state and in Kentucky and West Virginia have seen a huge problem with prescription drug abuse , particularly in areas where there `` is not a lot to do . '' Many family members , across generations , live in the same house and will use the drugs together as `` a community activity , '' Duwve said . And this has led to more needle sharing , which spreads infection . She said this has been a problem for these areas for at least a decade . Another reason this infection has spread so rapidly is the nature of the drug itself . Opana , as the prescription opioid is known , needs to be injected more than once a day . Duwve said residents have reported injecting it four to 10 times a day to stay under its influence . When people start to feel the drug wear off after about four hours , they begin to feel sick and go into withdrawal . Often they 'll turn to an injecting partner in the same house who will share their needle and their drug to give the person relief from these symptoms . The other problem with this drug is that it requires a larger-gauge needle that exposes users to more blood , which increases the risk of infection . Health leaders worry about the spread of HIV and other diseases such as hepatitis C around the country as the number of illegal prescription drug users has grown . There has been a 150 % increase in hepatitis C between 2010 and 2013 , the majority of the increase believed to be from injection drug abusers , the CDC said . `` The situation in Indiana should serve as a warning not to let our guard down , '' Mermin said . `` This is a powerful reminder '' that HIV and other infectious diseases `` can gain ground at any time , unless you remain vigilant . ''
The number of new HIV infections in Indiana has grown to 300 percent . Some families in isolated communities use illegal drugs and share needles as a ` ` community activity , '' a health official says . Public health officials maintain efforts to stop the outbreak from gaining ground .