Aim: In the last decade, the prevalence of injecting drugs has been increasing rapidly. Injecting drug use puts one at the risk of risky behaviors that affect the health of individual and society. The present study aims at evaluating and comparing risky behaviors of injecting and non-injecting drug users. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 4400 addicts referred to public, priva...

The prevalence of injection drug use has been of especial interest for assessment of the impact of blood-borne viruses. However, the incidence of injection drug use has been underresearched. Our 2-fold aim in this study was to estimate 1) how many other persons, per annum, an injection drug user (IDU) has the equivalent of full responsibility (EFR) for initiating into injection drug use and 2) ...

Pakistan's HIV epidemic is fully established and expanding among injection drug users (IDUs) of whom 20% are infected with HIV. Nascent epidemics are seen in some cities among Male sex workers and transgenders who form sexual contacts of IDUs. With involvement of sex workers, Pakistan appears to be following the "Asian Epidemic Model". On the other hand, nearly all patients in HIV clinics are e...

conclusions the mmt program is an effective intervention to prevent hcv infection transmission, although it is essential to compare its effectiveness with other interventions before implementing it in nationwide. results of the 259 participants, 98.4% (255) were men, the mean age ± sd was 33.1 ± 7.58 years and hcv prevalence was 50%. the studied idus reported lower rate of risky injecting and s...

BACKGROUND The severity of HIV/AIDS pandemic linked to injecting drug use is one of the most worrying medical and social problems throughout the world in recent years. Myanmar has one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV among the IDUs in the region. AIM The objective of the study was to determine the risk behaviours among HIV positive injecting drug users in Myanmar. METHODS A non matche...

Using data from a community-based study of injection drug users (IDUs) in Sichuan Province in China, this study compared the level of HIV risk behavior (needle sharing and unsafe sex) amongst female and male IDUs, and examined the risk factors separately for these two groups. Five risk factors were examined in the analysis, including a lack of family support, having an IDU primary sex partner, ...

BACKGROUND There is a high risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection among injecting drug users (IDUs). OBJECTIVES This study aimed to determine the frequency of latent and active TB infection among IDUs. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a cross-sectional study between 2008 and 2009, IDUs referred to the methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) centers in Hamedan-Iran, undergone tuberculin skin test (PPD; p...

In the era of highly effective anti-retroviral therapy (ART), data show a significant difference in treatment outcomes between injecting drug users (IDUs) and non-IDUs. Factors that may contribute to suboptimal treatment outcomes in IDUs include delayed access to ART, competing comorbid diseases, psychosocial barriers and poor long-term adherence to ART. This review describes and compares sever...

BACKGROUND There is a large controversy in the literature about the inter-relations between perceived risk, knowledge, and risk behavior in different settings, and people at HIV risk are not an exception. AIM To assess additive and multiplicative effect of perceived HIV risk and HIV knowledge on sexual risk behavior of Injecting Drug Users (IDUs). METHOD We enrolled 162 street based IDUs to...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To review the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Australia, and consider needs for further research and prevention policies and programmes. DESIGN (1) Review of the results of surveillance for HCV; (2) review of published literature on prevalence, incidence, and risk factors for HCV among IDUs; and (3) reconstruction of incid...