The context of first drug injection and its association with ongoing injecting practices and HCV (hepatitis C virus) infection were investigated. Injection drug users (IDUs) (N = 606) were recruited in "drug scenes" (public places, bars) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, interviewed, and tested for HCV. Sharing of needles/syringes was more prevalent at the first injection (51.3%) than at the baseline ...

BACKGROUND There are significant gender differences in injection drug practices and relative risks involved for women who inject drug compared with men. This qualitative study aims to explore the social, contextual, and behavioral dimensions of injecting practices among women who inject drugs. METHODS Participants were selected by purposive venue-based sampling from a syringe exchange program...

Background: Prisoners, compared to the general population, are at greater risk of infection. Drug injection is the main route of HIV transmission, in particular in Iran. What would be of interest is to determine variables that govern drug injection among prisoners. However, one of the issues that challenge model building is incomplete national data sets. In this paper, we addressed the process ...

UNLABELLED This qualitative study of travel-related risk behaviours of Slovene injection drug users was based on interviews with individuals enrolled in drug addiction treatment programmes run by three regional centres for prevention and treatment of drug addiction. The primary objective of the study was to analyse behaviour patterns and practices of injection drug users during travel. METHOD...

If William Osler were alive today he would no doubt remark on the fundamental change in the nature of the disease that he originally described. Staphylococcal endocarditis in injection drug users is now the dominant form of the disease in many urban communities where there is a high incidence of injection drug use and homelessness. At our institution (a tertiary care, university affiliated hosp...

AIMS To assess the effectiveness of a brief human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing and counseling intervention compared to a more time-consuming and expensive street-based intervention with injection drug users (IDUs). DESIGN Cross-over experimental design in which 900 IDUs were recruited, followed by a 'wash-out' period with no recruitment, a reversal of intervention assignment areas and...