OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of treating HIV-infected injection drug users (IDUs) and non-IDUs in Russia with highly active antiretroviral therapy HAART. DESIGN AND METHODS A dynamic HIV epidemic model was developed for a population of IDUs and non-IDUs. The location for the study was St. Petersburg, Russia. The adult population aged 15 to 49 years was subdivid...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Endoscopic retrograde biliary drainage (ERBD) has become a standard procedure in patients with a biliary obstruction. Intraductal ultrasonography (IDUS) has emerged as a new tool for managing extrahepatic biliary diseases. IDUS-directed ERBD can be performed without conventional cholangiography (CC). The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness and safety of IDUS-direc...

This cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence and risk factors of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections among 266 drug users attending a drug-addiction treatment centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from November 1996 to April 1997. Of the 266 addicts, 129 were injectable drug users (IDUs), and 137 were noninjectable drug users (non...

To determine the HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) geographical distribution among drug users in China, a systematic literature review of 40 peer-reviewed publications (comprising 15,565 drug users) was conducted. Of the total drug users, 10,724 were found to be injection drug users (IDUs) and 4841 were non-injection drug users (non-IDUs). Various studies identified that among IDUs and non-IDUs, ...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence and incidence among injecting drug users (IDUs) has increased in London and rest of UK. To inform public health action, mathematical modelling is used to explore the possible impact of strategies to decrease syringe sharing. METHODS A mathematical model was developed to simulate HCV transmission amongst IDUs in London. Because of parameter uncerta...

Background: Injecting drug users (IDUs) and prisoners are considered to be highly vulnerable to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in Iran. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of HIV infection among IDUs released from jail in Bahar (Hamadan, Iran). Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 118 IDUs who were prisoners during 2001-07 were evaluated. Their demographic and p...

OBJECTIVES Injection drug users (IDUs) are at high risk for HIV, hepatitis, overdose and other harms. Greater drug treatment availability has been shown to reduce these harms among IDUs. Yet, little is known about changes in drug treatment availability for IDUs in the U.S. This paper investigates change in drug treatment coverage for IDUs in 90 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) during 1993-...

BACKGROUND Injecting drug use is an increasingly important cause of HIV transmission in most countries worldwide, especially in eastern Europe, South America, and east and southeast Asia. Among people actively injecting drugs, provision of clean needles and opioid substitution reduce HIV-transmission. However, former injecting drug users (fIDUs) are often overlooked as a high risk group for HIV...

Adiponectin is an important marker of anthropometric profiles of adipose tissue. However, association of adiponectin and adiposity in HIV mono- and co-infected and hepatitis (HCV) injection drug users (IDUs) has not been elucidated. Therefore, the relationship of total adiponectin levels with anthropometric indices of adiposity was examined in HIV mono-infected (anti-retroviral treatment, ART-n...