Despite the introduction of needle and syringe exchange programs (NSPs), sharing of syringes and other materials remains common among injection drug users (IDUs) worldwide. For this reason, IDUs are at high-risk of HIV transmission. This paper studies the psychosocial and psychopathological determinants of sharing among IDUs. Understanding the relationship between psychological morbidity, HIV k...

This study aims to characterize the profile of male injecting drug users who have sex with other men (MSM IDUs) recruited through a cross-sectional multi-city survey (AjUDE-Brasil II Project) in six Brazilian cities, in 2000-2001. MSM IDUs were compared to other male IDUs using bivariate and multivariate procedures (logistic regression and answer tree analysis with the CHAID algorithm). Among t...

Both hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 seroconversions have been considered as outcome measures to evaluate the effectiveness of needle exchange programs. To assess the relationships between incident HBV and HIV infections among injecting drug users (IDUs), seroconversions were prospectively studied among a cohort of 240 HBV- and HIV- seronegative IDUs. The i...

BACKGROUND In the context of increasing HIV prevalence among women in regular sexual partnerships, this paper examines the relationship between male injecting drug users' (IDUs) risky injecting practices and sexual risk behaviors with casual partners and inconsistent condom use with regular partners. METHODS Data were drawn from the behavioral tracking survey, conducted in 2009 with 1,712 mal...

Previous studies have established the risky behaviors of IDUs in India, and that IDUs are sexually active; however, there is a need to better understand the nature of sexual partnerships of IDUs. A total of 783 (Delhi) and 766 (Imphal) male IDUs were recruited into the study through respondent-driven sampling. We examined characteristics of sex partners of male IDUs and individual and sexual pa...

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...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine the influence of continued drug use and its perception by prescribing physicians on access to antiretroviral treatment among French HIV infected injection drug users (IDUs). DESIGN Cross sectional including enrollment data (October 1995-1996) of the cohort study MANIF 2000. Access to treatment is compared in three groups: former IDUs (n = 68) and active IDUs wheth...

This study compared healthcare utilization by injection drug users (IDUs) and non-IDUs. Data were abstracted from patients' medical records, admitted on HIV/AIDS treatment centers, between 1986 and 2002, forming a non-concurrent cohort study. Variables included: sociodemographics, HIV/AIDS exposure group, healthcare utilization (consultations, procedures, and prescriptions). Descriptive analyse...

The purpose of this study was to produce models composed of mapping of connectivity networks of HIV transmission risk in injection drug users (IDUs). This methodology provided a novel approach and diagnostic tool for understanding HIV infection transmission risk and drug use in the typical niche of IDUs, i.e., a "shooting gallery" (a gathering site for injection drug activity). Furthermore, com...

Injection drug users (IDUs) are the largest group of persons infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), with a prevalence of 50%-90%. The transmission of HCV is not the effect of the drug injected but of sharing contaminated equipment. For the sake of prevention, we have to know which factors are more likely to lead to HCV seroconversion and which particular situations and environments are risk fac...