HIV Basics
There is no way to tell if someone is living with HIV.
HIV is a virus that attacks the body's immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
- You can live a long and healthy life if you take your HIV medications correctly.
- You cannot get HIV from casual person to person contact. It is spread through blood, semen, vaginal fluid, rectal mucous, and breastmilk.
- You can have a healthy sex life while living with HIV. If you take your medication correctly, you can get your viral load low enough that you cannot spread HIV. This is called U=U or Undetectable = Untransmittable.
- If a pregnant person takes their HIV medication correctly during pregnancy, there is a very low risk of the baby being born with HIV.
HIV Prevention and Care Plan
Maine’s five-year Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Plan (PDF) outlines the goals and strategies to address HIV in Maine. The key goals of the plan are:
- Diagnose all people with HIV as early as possible.
- Treat people with HIV rapidly and effectively to reach viral suppression to improve health outcomes and prevent transmission to others.
- Prevent new HIV transmission using biomedical approaches and harm reduction practices.
- Respond quickly to potential HIV outbreaks to get prevention and treatment services to people who need them.
For a summary of the plan check out the HIV Plan Fact Sheets (PDF)
HIV Testing and Care Services Locator
Enter a ZIP code in the AIDS.gov web tool, to see locations of services like HIV testing sites, health centers, and substance use clinics in your area. Not all sites are listed with this search tool. Please call your health care provider or call Maine CDC office at 1-800-821-5821 for more resources. You can also call (207) 287-3747 to learn about the drug assistance programs for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Testing Recommendations
- U.S. CDC recommends HIV testing at least once for everyone ages of 13 - 64 years old.
- U.S. CDC recommends HCV testing at least once for all adults aged 18 years and older, and for all pregnant persons during each pregnancy.
- U.S. CDC recommends HIV testing at least once per year for people with certain risk factors:
- Men who have sex with men
- People who have had anal or vaginal sex with someone living with HIV
- People who have had more than one sex partner since their last HIV test
- People who have shared syringes, needles, or other injection drug equipment
- People who have exchanged sex for drugs or money
- People who have been diagnosed with or treated for another sexually transmitted infection (STI)
- People who have been diagnosed with or treated for hepatitis or tuberculosis (TB)
- People who have had sex with anyone with the above risk factors or anyone whose sexual history they don’t know
- Maine CDC recommends HIV testing at least every three months for persons with ongoing risk factors. This recommendation applies statewide and is based on the possibility of increased risk related to this cluster of HIV cases. Maine CDC will continue to update this recommendation over time.
- When testing for HIV, include testing for other STIs (including chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis) and viral hepatitis (hepatitis B and hepatitis C).
Resources
- HIV Resources
- HIV 101 Prevention and Care in Maine Card (PDF)
- HIV Testing and Linkage to Care Webinar
- HIV Cluster Update and Prevention, Testing, and Treatment Recommendations, April 2024 (PDF)
- Increase in HIV Diagnoses among People Who Inject Drugs in Penobscot County, February 2024 (PDF)
- HIV Cluster and Outbreak Detection and Response
- HIV, STI, and Viral Hepatitis Program Orderable Materials
- Disease Reporting
- Maine Infectious Disease Data: monthly, quarterly, and annual reports
- U.S. CDC AtlasPlus: interactive maps, charts, and tables with HIV, hepatitis, STI, tuberculosis, and social determinants of health data
- HCV and HIV Clinical Guidance Package (PDF)
- **NEW**HIV and Hepatitis C: Penobscot County Updates and Clinical Guidance Package, March 2025 (PDF)
- Hepatitis C (HCV) Resources
- Hepatitis C Flyer (PDF)
- Hepatitis C Pocket Card (PDF)
- Insurance Coverage for Viral Hepatitis (PDF)
- Link to Care Palm Card for Hepatitis C (PDF)
- Perinatal Hepatitis C Brochure (PDF)
- HIV, STI, and Viral Hepatitis Program Orderable Materials
- Disease Reporting
- Maine Infectious Disease Data: monthly, quarterly, and annual reports
- U.S. CDC AtlasPlus: interactive maps, charts, and tables with HIV, hepatitis, STI, tuberculosis, and social determinants of health data
- Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) Hepatitis C Workflow for Outside Referrals (PDF)
- Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) Positive Hepatitis C Test Interview Questions Form (PDF)
- HCV and HIV Clinical Guidance Package (PDF)
- **NEW**HIV and Hepatitis C: Penobscot County Updates and Clinical Guidance Package, March 2025 (PDF)
- Hepatitis A (HAV) Resources
- Hepatitis A Flyer (PDF)
- Hepatitis A Pocket Card (PDF)
- Insurance Coverage for Viral Hepatitis (PDF)
- HIV, STI, and Viral Hepatitis Program Orderable Materials
- Disease Reporting
- Maine Infectious Disease Data: monthly, quarterly, and annual reports
- U.S. CDC AtlasPlus: interactive maps, charts, and tables with HIV, hepatitis, STI, tuberculosis, and social determinants of health data
- Ryan White Part B Resources
- STI Resources
- STI Treatment Guidelines
- Expedited Partner Therapy for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea
- Maine Health Alert Network (HAN): Increase in Syphilis in Maine (PDF)
- Maine Health Alert Network (HAN): Congenital Syphilis in Maine (PDF)
- Maine Health Alert Network (HAN): Diagnosis and Treatment of Syphilis in Pregnant People (PDF)
- Clinical Guidelines for the Use of Doxycycline Postexposure Prophylaxis for Bacterial STI Prevention
- Mpox Information
- Syringe Disposal Resources
Penobscot County HIV Outbreak
Maine CDC has identified an increase in new Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) diagnoses in Penobscot County, primarily among people who inject drugs (PWID) and people who are unhoused. Over the previous five years in Penobscot County there were an average of two new HIV diagnoses per year overall, and one new diagnosis per year among PWID.
In response to this increase in HIV diagnoses, Maine CDC is working with community partners to:
- Increase access to HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing among those at risk;
- Provide HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention services, such as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and safer sex supplies;
- Offer syringe services and other harm reduction services; and
- Link people diagnosed with HIV or HCV to medical care and treatment.
| Number of cases | Cumulative Total (10/1/2023 – 7/5/2025) |
|---|---|
| Confirmed | 26 |
| Injection drug use (IDU) within 1 year of diagnosis | 25 (96%) |
| Unhoused within 1 year of diagnosis | 23 (88%) |
| Hepatitis C coinfection | 25 (96%) |
| Outcomes | |
| Linked to care within 30 days of diagnosis* | 17 (65%) |
| Virally suppressed at last test (of 25 cases currently living in Maine) | 11 (44%) |
Data are preliminary and subject to change. Updated case counts will be posted each Thursday.
*Had a CD4 or viral load lab done within 30 days of HIV diagnosis
**HIV diagnosis date is the specimen collection date for the case’s confirmatory lab result.
Outbreak-Associated Case Definition
To be an outbreak-associated case, a person must meet the definition for a confirmed HIV case AND meet both risk factor and exposure location criteria within one year prior to their diagnosis:
- Risk factors
- Injected drugs OR
- Has been unhoused OR
- Was a syringe (or other injection equipment) sharing or sex partner of a person who injected drugs or was unhoused
AND
- Exposure location
- Resided in Penobscot County OR
- Had exposures in Penobscot County