Measuring risk of HIV and HCV among injecting drug users in the Russian Federation

Abstract

Background: The aim of the study was to measure risk of HIV and HCV infection among injecting drug users (IDUs) through force of infection (FOI) models in three cities of the Russian Federation and assess the value of behavioural data and FOI in predicting risk of infection as a method of second-generation surveillance. Methods: FOI models were fitted to prevalence data collected through an anonymous, cross-sectional community-recruited survey of IDUs with oral fluid sample collection for antibodies to HIV and HCV. Risk of infection was estimated from FOI estimates obtained by fitting a model to prevalence data by length of injecting career for each city and then overall. Risk behaviours were examined by injecting career length. Results: A total of 1473 IDUs were recruited. Prevalence of HIV was 8.1% (95% CI 6.7–9.6%) and HCV 63.4% (95% CI 60.9–65.9%). A higher FOI in new initiates to injecting (injecting career length

Citation

European Journal of Public Health (2009) 19 (4), pp. 428-433 [doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckp041]

Measuring risk of HIV and HCV among injecting drug users in the Russian Federation

Published 1 January 2009