NCJ Number
134968
Journal
American Journal of Public Health Volume: 81 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1991) Pages: 59-62
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This study examines whether or not behavioral changes in intravenous (IV) drug users in Amsterdam retarded the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) epidemic in this group in recent years.
Abstract
The study sample was recruited from six methadone maintenance outposts and at a weekly sexually transmitted diseases clinic for drug-using prostitutes. Both IV and non-IV drug users were invited to participate in the study. A blood sample for HIV serology was taken, and participants were interviewed with a standard questionnaire. Participants returned for followup examinations and interviews every 4 months. A total of 622 subjects who had ever used drugs intravenously participated in the study between January 1986 and December 1989. HIV-antibody seroprevalence in annual samples of injectors was constant over the years 1986-89; HIV-antibody incidence in a cohort of injectors apparently decreased from 1986 to 1987 and stabilized after that until 1989. Acute hepatitis B incidence in all drug users in Amsterdam declined rapidly between 1985-89. Changes in drug-use behavior so far apparently have resulted in a stabilization of the epidemic among injectors at a level that is still a high incidence rate of 5-6 per 100 person-years. 1 table, 2 figures, and 17 references