The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, is working with Alaska’s Division of Public Health to better understand why the Fairbanks and the Interior region has seen aover the past two years. The division requested the CDC’s help to assess what barriers to care might have contributed to the cluster; they completed interviews during August and in October shared results of the assessment with care providers and nonprofits.
“There have been about 24 cases over the last two years, and not all of them are interior cases, but all these cases are linked to the interior cluster,” McLaughlin said. “So, they’re all part of a larger cluster that’s occurred over the last two years.” “One is condomless, or barrierless sex, and the other is multiple sexual partners,” McLaughlin said.