Preventing AIDS in Drug Users and Their Sexual Partners

AIDS is a growing problem, yet few books address specific interventions for what is now emerging as a second primary at-risk group in the U.S. and Europe--intravenous drug users. To date, this population has been unresponsive to publicized prevention techniques, and the consequences are telling. The number of intravenous drug users diagnosed with AIDS has risen steadily, from slightly over 18% of the 376 cases reported in 1981 to 28.4% of the 43,339 new cases reported in 1990. Further, drug use appears to be the primary link to the heterosexual population: Most women with AIDS have been injection drug users, and almost all babies born with AIDS have a parent with a history of such abuse. Addressing what needs to be done to stem the tide of this "second wave" of the AIDS epidemic, this volume presents research-validated information on how to prevent the spread of HIV infection among drug users and their sexual partners.