Prescription painkiller abuse sparked an HIV outbreak in rural Indiana. Kelly McEvers takes NPR's new podcast, Embedded, inside the home where IV drug users meet.

Indiana lawmakers banned state funding from going to the programs that provide intravenous drug users with clean syringes.

The Indiana State Department of Health says they've diagnosed four new cases of HIV linked to the Scott County outbreak, bringing the total number of people affected to 188.

The two-year, $200,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse will be supplemented by funding from the IU School of Medicine.

Since the outbreak started last year, the state health department says 184 people have been diagnosed with HIV.

The Centers for Disease Control will send 10 disease intervention specialists to Indiana to help with the testing.

The needle-exchange program will start next Wednesday and rotate between four sites in hopes of reducing the spread of hepatitis C among IV drug users.

The outbreak centered in the town of Austin in Scott County. The number of cases more than doubled to 153 from late to mid-May and at the outbreak's height as many as 22 new cases were diagnosed weekly. Now it's down to one or two per week.

Clark County Public Health Officer, Dr. Kevin Burke has already declared a public health emergency. He says the county's HIV and Hepatitis C rates are 25 to 30 percent higher than the state average.

Wayne County Health Department Director Eric Coulter told the County Council last week that the department's board is moving closer to asking the state health commissioner to approve a needle exchange for the county under the law that legislators approved this spring.