Mid-Ohio Valley officials share status of testing, contact efforts in HIV-positive sex worker case
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MARIETTA -- The Washington County Sheriff's Office, the Marietta/Belpre Health Department and the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department shared the status Wednesday of efforts to contact more than 200 people who had physical or phone contact with an HIV positive sex worker and informing them so they can get tested.
In May the Sheriff's Office arrested Linda Leccesse, 30, Marietta, on one third-degree felony count of solicitation after a positive HIV test. The WCSO held a press conference in May to appeal to the public to get tested for HIV as it is believed Leccesse may have had phone or sexual contact with more than 211 people since 2022.
The WCSO has been able to reach a large number of the more than 211 people that came into contact with Leccesse. According to Public Information Office Davis Powers, the WCSO has been able to call about 90% of the individuals.
"The other 10% have not answered the calls from investigators," Powers said, adding the case is ongoing.
As of Wednesday, the Marietta/Belpre Health Department in Marietta has not seen much of an uptick in the number of HIV tests it performs.
"We haven't had a lot of response," Health Department Director of Nursing Dianna Beck said.
She said they have had about five people come in for HIV testing associated with the case and they were all from the local areas. She said none of them have tested positive for HIV.
According to Beck, the people who came in to get tested for HIV were not very forthcoming that they were involved in the case until they were asked if they were.
Beck said the health department has increased its HIV testing supplies.
"We're ready if they come," she said.
The Portsmouth City Health Department is who the Marietta/Belpre Health Department turns to for infection specialists, according to Beck, and she said they have been keeping an eye on the situation.
Beck said she heard from the Portsmouth department that it has not seen a surge in HIV positive cases in the area it monitors. According to its website, the department is responsible for the surveillance of communicable diseases in Portsmouth and 56 counties.
She also said that the Portsmouth department expects people involved with the case to lay low for a while but for there to be a surge in testing in late June or early July.
Beck pointed out that people who have been exposed to HIV can also be exposed to other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) at the same time. She strongly encourages people to come in for HIV testing and to get tested for other STIs like syphilis and to even get tested for diseases like hepatitis.
"It would be nice to have people come," Beck said.
The Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department has not seen much in relation to the case either.
According to MOVHD Public Information Officer Amy Phelps, the number of HIV tests the agency has conducted has remained about the same and there has been no increase in positive HIV cases. She said as far as she has heard there have been no people associated with the case coming in for HIV testing.
"We just have been continuing to offer STD (sexually transmitted disease) testing at our clinics for anyone in the community who wants one," Phelps said.
Though there have been no positive HIV tests related to the case at either agency, Washington County and Wood County do have positive HIV tests in some years.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, there were two positive HIV diagnoses in Washington County in 2022. No data was available for 2023.
According to the West Virginia Office of Epidemiology and Prevention Services, the average number of positive HIV diagnoses in Wood County from 2016 to 2020 was two. There was not data listed for 2022 for Wood County and the agency's website said when no data is listed it is because case numbers were between one and four.
Case numbers are not the only factor in a person's risk of contracting HIV. According to the Centers for Disease Control website, 1.2 million people aged 13 and older were estimated to have HIV in 2021. The website said of those, 13 of every hundred did not know they had HIV.
According to the CDC, the risk of getting HIV varies widely depending on the type of exposure or behavior someone engages in.
"Some exposures to HIV carry a much higher risk of transmission than other exposures ... There may be a relatively small chance of acquiring HIV when engaging in a risk behavior with an infected partner only once; but, if repeated many times, the overall likelihood of becoming infected after repeated exposures is actually much higher," the CDC website said.
Information about different exposure risks and rates can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/estimates/riskbehaviors.html. The CDC has an HIV risk estimator at https://hivrisk.cdc.gov/risk-estimator-tool/#-sb.
Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com