There are over 7.5 billion needles and syringes used outside of the health care system each year by individuals with diabetes, migraines, allergies, infertility, arthritis, HIV, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, psoriasis, or other conditions. Disposal of needles, syringes, lancets, and other medical products are not regulated in the home, while these same products used in health car...

We review drug abuse treatment as a means of preventing infection with HIV. Thirty-three studies, with an aggregate of over seventeen thousand subjects, were published in peer-reviewed journals from 1988-1998. Research on the utility of drug abuse treatment as an HIV prevention strategy has focused primarily on methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) rather than other modalities such as residenti...

The purpose of CCSA's National Policy Working Group (NPWG) is to provide a forum or focus for agencies, or individuals with an expertise in substance abuse to participate in a broad discussion and analyze policy issues and topics from a national perspective.The NPWG is not an advocacy group, but provides a "best practice" analysis and positions for consideration by the CCSA Board and the broade...

The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has supported the Vietnamese Ministry of Health (MOH) in implementing behavior change strategies to slow the HIV epidemic. These programs target commercial sex workers (CSW), injection drug users (IDU), and men who have sex with men (MSM). Using data from a program evaluation to assess effectiveness of the PEPFAR intervention, we cond...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Prevalence of injection drug users (IDUs) is high in the northeastern region of India. This coupled with unsafe injecting practices as well as practice of tattooing in remote tribal areas call for baseline data on the prevalence of parentally transmitted viral diseases. In the present study we aimed to measure the risk behaviours and seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus (H...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of demographic, socioeconomic, educational and family variables on HIV/AIDS knowledge among adolescents aged 11 years. METHODS 3,949 adolescents born in Pelotas (Brazil). HIV/AIDS knowledge was assessed through a self-administered questionnaire and measured through five questions about HIV transmission: heterosexual intercourse, homosexual intercourse, need...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Busan, Gyeongnam, and Jeonnam Provinces in Korea is more than twice the national average. This study aimed to examine whether demographic and lifestyle characteristics are associated with HCV infection in these areas. METHODS A case control study was performed at three study hospitals. HCV cases were matched with two contr...

BACKGROUND People who inject drugs (PWID) have significantly higher rates of blood borne and sexually transmitted infections due to unsafe injecting practices and risky sexual behaviors. METHODS We carried out an HIV bio-behavioral survey using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) in people who use drugs (PWID) in Podgorica, Montenegro in 2013 in order to determine the prevalence of HIV, hepatiti...

OBJECTIVES To measure HIV prevalence, risk behaviours, and further service needs in needle exchange programs throughout Ontario, and to conduct regional comparisons. METHODS Injection drug users (IDU) recruited through the efforts of needle exchange programme (NEP) staff in 9 Ontario cities during 1997-98 completed questionnaires about their drug use and behaviours and provided saliva and/or ...

BACKGROUND Injecting drug users (IDU) have a key role in Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) epidemiology. Young/short-term IDUs constitute a target group for preventive/harm reduction interventions. OBJECTIVES To investigate HCV transmission among young/short-term (ST) and long-term (LT) IDUs, from the perspective of epidemiology and molecular biology. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study assessing the ...