There were 124 new HIV diagnoses in Iowa last year, an increase of 27% from the year before, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s annual HIV Ssurveillance Report. Washington County Public Health Administrator Danielle Pettit-Majewski states it’s believed to be correlated to the testing the past two years, where in 2014 fewer regular checks were done across the state, so the increase is due to fewer diagnoses in 2014. The average from 2010 to 2014 was 114 cases.

Pettit-Majewski adds it’s important to be tested annually if you are at high-risk or if your partner is at high-risk. It’s easier to contract if you have an existing STD and an open wound where the virus can travel. She adds the only certain way to not get HIV is to practice abstinence and to not share needles.

Iowa has 2,367 people diagnosed with HIV and had 20 HIV or AIDS-related deaths in 2015.