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The aim of the study was to measure HIV prevalence and risk behaviour in 185 Irish Intravenous Drug Misusers. Information was obtained by application of a standardised WHO questionnaire covering HIV risk behaviour in the preceding 6 months. HIV serostatus was obtained by saliva/blood sample testing. One hundred and 3 (55.7 per cent) shared and 114 (61.6 per cent) lent used injecting equipment i...

OBJECTIVES Intravenous drug use accounts for most of the new hepatitis C infections worldwide. Although there is an urgent need for antiviral treatment of infected intravenous drug users (IDUs), several factors compromise their treatment including lack of treatment adherence and high dropout rate. The aim of this study was to compare antiviral treatment-related problems among former IDUs to HCV...

I read with interest the published article by Ranjbar Kermani et al. (1). Genotyping of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is important, which provides information about strain variation and characteristics of virus during the treatment and the therapy response rate (2). In addition, it is of epidemiologic value because it sheds light on whether prevalent HCV strains are similar to that endemic ones in a ...

The present study aimed to describe the cognitive status of a group of HIV-positive asymptomatic intravenous drug users (IVDU) and changes which occurred over a 12-month follow-up period. Forty-two HIV positive IVDU were selected and matched for age, sex, educational level and pattern of drug abuse with 39 seronegative IVDU controls. Baseline and follow-up evaluation included neuropsychological...

BACKGROUND Up to 90% HIV-1 positive intravenous drug users (IDUs) are co-infected with HCV. Although best recognized for its function as a major co-receptor for cell entry of HIV, CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) has also been implicated in the pathogenesis of HCV infection. Here, we investigated whether CCR5 haplotypes influence HIV-1 and HCV seropositivity among 373 Caucasian IDUs from Estonia....

This paper examines the evidence for harm reduction policies on HIV and HCV transmission, evaluating the benefit to drug users and the community. Surveys show that HIV is primarily transmitted through unsafe sexual activity, while HCV is almost exclusively transmitted by unsafe drug injecting. A review of studies on NSPs and their effectiveness in preventing transmission of HCV and HIV shows th...