Trifluorothymidine (F3TdR) and idoxuridine (IDU) were observed to penetrate through the cornea from the epithelial side at a greater rate than adenine arabinoside (ARA-A) during in vitro corneal perfusions. Removal of the epithelium increased the rate of penetration of F3TdR and IDU by about twofold and the rate of ARA-A penetration by fivefold. The kinetics of antiviral penetration did not dis...

BACKGROUND Thailand has for years attempted to address illicit drug use through aggressive drug law enforcement. Despite accounts of widespread violence by police against people who inject drugs (IDU), the impact of police violence has not been well investigated. In the wake of an intensified police crackdown in 2011, we sought to identify the prevalence and correlates of experiencing police be...

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing strategy for tuberculosis (TB) patients in some high HIV incidence countries has been recommended based on interaction between HIV and TB. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of HIV infection among newly detected pulmonary TB patients. Patients and Methods: In a cross sectional study, 104 cases including 95 non i...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes persistent infection in 75% of cases and is a major public health problem worldwide. More than 92% of intravenous drug users (IDU) infected by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) are seropositive for HCV, and it is conceivable that some HIV-1-infected IDU who remain uninfected by HCV may be genetically resistant.Here we conducted a case-control study to id...

OBJECTIVE We previously identified a high prevalence of Hepatitis C (HCV) amongst solvent-using injection drug users (S-IDU) relative to other injection drug users within the same locality. Here we incorporated social network variables to better characterize some of the behavioural characteristics that may be putting this specific subgroup of IDU at elevated disease risk. METHODS A cross-sect...

BACKGROUND & AIMS On-going risk behaviour can lead to hepatitis C virus (HCV) reinfection following successful treatment. We aimed to assess the incidence of persistent HCV reinfection in a population of people who inject drugs (PWID) who had achieved sustained virological response (SVR) seven years earlier. METHODS In 2004-2006 we conducted a multicentre treatment trial comprising HCV genoty...

background: hepatitis c (hcv) is increasing worldwide including iran. hcv is more prevalent among intravenous drug abusers (idu), especially if imprisoned, mostly due to needle sharing. we determined the rate of hcv seropositivity among idu prisoners and compared it with those of non prisoners. materials and methods: a cross-sectional survey was done on consenting idu inhabiting two prisons and...

Ara-A ointment was compared to IDU ointment in patients with dendritic herpes simplex virus infection of the corneal epithelium. Twenty-eight patients were treated with Ara-A ointment and twenty-four with IDU ointment. The lesions healed in 5.1 days with Ara-A and in 6.9 days with IDU. This drug was given in a double-controlled manner, so that neither the patient, nor the investigator knew whic...

OBJECTIVE Incidence of HIV-associated non-AIDS (HANA) related comorbidities is increasing in HIV-infected individuals. Our objective was to estimate the risk of HANA comorbidity associated with history of injection drug use (IDU) correctly accounting for higher death rates among people who inject drugs (PWID). DESIGN We followed HIV-infected persons aged 25-59 years who enrolled in the Johns ...

OBJECTIVES Many patients have simplified their therapy by replacing protease inhibitors (PI) with efavirenz. In a large cohort study representative of clinical practice, we compared outcomes in patients who replaced PI with efavirenz (switchers), with patients who continued on PI (non-switchers). We investigated the likelihood of virological failure in switchers and non-switchers, and the toler...