Document 2677
 DOCN  M94A2677
 TI    New injectors remain at high risk for HIV infection. WHO Collaborative
       Study Group.
 DT    9412
 AU    Friedman SR; Des Jarlais DC; Wenston J; National Development and
       Research Institutes, Inc., New York, NY; 10013.
 SO    Int Conf AIDS. 1994 Aug 7-12;10(1):25 (abstract no. 073C). Unique
       Identifier : AIDSLINE ICA10/94369898
 AB    OBJECTIVE: To examine HIV risk behaviors and seroprevalence of new and
       old injecting drug users (IDUs). METHODS: The World Health Organization
       Multi-site Study of HIV and Injecting Drug Use collected data in 1989-92
       about behaviors in the prior 6 months from out-of-treatment and
       in-treatment IDUs in 12 cities on 5 continents. HIV serostatus was
       ascertained for 3,915 IDUs in 9 of these cities. New IDUs are defined as
       having injected < or = 6 years; old IDUs > 6 years. Since city
       serostatus was related to many of the behaviors that were studied, it
       was controlled using logistic regression. RESULTS: The percent of new
       injectors varied from 16% to 55%, and in 8 of 12 cities was in the
       40%-50% range. New IDUs were significantly less likely to be infected
       than old IDUs in the total sample (13% vs 29%) and in 7 of 9 cities with
       HIV data available. Approximately 40% of both new and old IDUs had
       injected with syringes someone else had used. With city serostatus
       controlled, new injectors are significantly more likely to pass used
       syringes on to other IDUs, less likely always to use condoms with casual
       partners (but less likely to have a primary sex partner who is an IDU),
       less likely to talk with friends about AIDS, and less likely to talk
       with sex partners about AIDS. CONCLUSIONS: Hundreds of thousands of
       persons have begun to inject drugs since HIV was identified. Although
       their seroprevalence does not yet equal that of old IDUs, 40% are
       injecting with potentially infectious syringes. Their high level of risk
       behavior and their lesser degree of talking about AIDS indicate that
       special prevention efforts need to be developed for new injectors around
       the world.
 DE    Condoms/UTILIZATION  Human  HIV Infections/*TRANSMISSION  HIV
       Seroprevalence  Needle Sharing  Regression Analysis  *Risk-Taking
       Substance Abuse, Intravenous/*COMPLICATIONS  Time Factors  MEETING
       ABSTRACT

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