Clark County commissioners on Thursday night voted unanimously to extend the program for another year. The program now will be up for renewal at the end of August 2018.

One of the first Indiana counties to implement a syringe exchange is now the first in the state to effectively shut its program down.

The Madison County Council last week tabled a $15,000 request from the county health department to fund the program.

The state has implemented just one of five CDC-recommended measures to prevent the spread of the disease through sharing contaminated needles.

Nine of Indiana's 92 counties have needle exchanges. They started after a 2015 HIV outbreak in Scott County.

The state approved its first needle exchange in 2015 after a serious HIV epidemic, fueled by intravenous drug use, broke out in downstate Scott County.

House lawmakers approved legislation Tuesday to make it easier for locals to establish syringe exchange programs.

A bill that would give Indiana counties and municipalities the ability to set up their own syringe exchanges passed its first hurtle Wednesday.

Tippecanoe County has become Indiana's ninth with a declared public health emergency - an intermediate step in establishing a needle exchange in the county.