Document 2579
 DOCN  M94A2579
 TI    Declining trend in HIV prevalence among injecting drug users in Italy.
 DT    9412
 AU    Rezza G; Alliegro B; Pezzotti P; Suligoi B; Giuliani M; Cozzi Lepri A;
       Dorrucci M; Napoli P; Zaccarelli M; Serafin I; Centro Operativo AIDS,
       Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Roma, Italy.
 SO    Int Conf AIDS. 1994 Aug 7-12;10(1):272 (abstract no. PC0007). Unique
       Identifier : AIDSLINE ICA10/94369996
 AB    OBJECTIVE: To monitor HIV prevalence among injecting drug users (IDU's)
       attending drug treatment centers in Italy through repeated prevalence
       studies. METHODS: Annual HIV prevalence was evaluated among two
       subgroups of IDU's: 1) IDU's entering drug treatment for the first time
       (new entrants), and 2) IDU's in treatment for more than 1 year (old
       clients). Participants were considered HIV positive if their sera were
       repeatedly reactive to ELISA test and confirmed by Western blot. For the
       purpose of the study, Italy was divided into five areas (north-west,
       north-east, center, south and the islands). With respect to HIV
       prevalence rate, 95% confidence intervals were calculated to assess
       statistical significance between subgroups (i.e., new and old clients,
       male and female), year of HIV testing, and geographic area. RESULTS:
       Information was available on 34,949 IDU's in 1990, 40,795 in 1991, and
       46,624 in 1992. Among new entrants, HIV prevalence declined from 20.2%
       (95% CI 19.4-20.9) in 1990, to 15.9% (15.3-16.6) in 1991, and 11.3%
       (10.8-11.8) in 1992. Among old clients, HIV prevalence rate was 37.4%
       (36.8-38.0) in 1990, 35.1% (34.5-35.6) in 1991, and 30.3% (29.8-30.8) in
       1992. Data analysis stratified by year showed that HIV prevalence was
       consistently higher among females than among males: in 1992, HIV
       prevalence was 23.4% for males [95% CI 23.0-23.8] and 30.7% for females
       [95% CI 29.7-31.8]. Large geographical variations were observed, with
       higher prevalence rates in the north-west (39.9% in 1992) compared to
       the center (28.1%) and the south (7.0%). CONCLUSIONS: HIV prevalence is
       declining among Italian IDU's entering drug treatment centers. However,
       large geographical variations exist, suggesting that HIV began to appear
       among IDU population subgroups at different times. Female IDU's are a
       higher risk for HIV infection, possibly due to sexual transmission.
 DE    Female  Human  HIV Infections/*EPIDEMIOLOGY/TRANSMISSION  HIV
       Seropositivity/EPIDEMIOLOGY  Italy/EPIDEMIOLOGY  Male  Prevalence
       Substance Abuse, Intravenous/*COMPLICATIONS  MEETING ABSTRACT

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