Continued Spread of HIV Among Injecting Drug Users in Southern Sichuan Province, China

In the current study, authors sought to estimate HIV prevalence among injection drug users (IDUs) in a heavily drug-trafficked city in southwest Sichuan province.

Through community outreach recruitment and peer referrals, 314 IDU volunteers participated in this cross-sectional survey in 2004. A blood sample was taken for HIV antibody testing and participants were administered a structured questionnaire regarding socio-demographics, drug using, and sexual behaviors.

Researchers found HIV prevalence was 17.8 percent (56/314) among the IDUs, or about a 50 percent increase from a previous survey in 2002 (11.3 percent, 43/379). Independent risk factors for infection were: Yi and other ethnic minorities (Odds ratio [OR], 3.1; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.7-5.8; P<0.001); total times sharing injection equipment one to nine times vs. 0 (OR, 2.7; 95 percent CI, 1.2-6.2; P=0.02); and sharing equipment 10 or more times vs. 0 (OR, 7.5; 95 percent CI, 3.2-17.7; P"IDUs with high prevalence rates of HIV and equipment sharing behavior in the drug trafficking city may serve as a source for further spread of HIV to other areas of China," the researchers concluded. The increasing HIV epidemic among IDUs "underscores the urgency of scaling-up interventions."

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