| Title | HIV drug resistance and HIV transmission risk behaviors among active injection drug users. |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2005 |
| Authors | Kozal, Michael J., Rivet K. Amico, Jennifer Chiarella, Deborah Cornman, William Fisher, Jeffrey Fisher, and Gerald Friedland |
| Journal | Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pagination | 106-9 |
| Date Published | 2005 Sep 1 |
| ISSN | 1525-4135 |
| Keywords | Anti-HIV Agents, Cross-Sectional Studies, Disease Transmission, Infectious, Drug Resistance, Female, HIV, HIV Infections, Humans, Male, Needle Sharing, Retrospective Studies, Risk-Taking, Substance Abuse, Intravenous |
| Abstract | HIV(+) injection drug users in clinical care may harbor and transmit drug-resistant HIV. We performed a retrospective study of HIV drug resistance and risk behavior among HIV(+) injection drug users in care to determine the number of needle-sharing events that involved and the proportion of sharing partners exposed to drug-resistant HIV. Among 180 HIV injection drug users, 55 (31%) reported injecting drugs in the previous month, and 22 of these (40%) shared needles and/or works 148 times with 296 partners, of whom 271 (92%) were thought to be HIV(-) or status unknown. Further, 55 (31%) drug users harbored resistant HIV, including 5 (3% of total) who also shared needles and/or works a total of 27 times with 44 partners (18% of all sharing events and 15% of all exposed partners). A small proportion of injection drug users receiving clinical care engage in injection risk behavior and carry resistant HIV; however, because of multiple partners and needle-sharing events, they expose a substantial number of individuals to drug-resistant HIV. Strategies to reduce injection drug use risk behaviors among patients in clinical care are needed to reduce the transmission of sensitive and resistant HIV. |
| DOI | 10.3109/00952990.2011.568081 |
| Alternate Journal | J. Acquir. Immune Defic. Syndr. |
