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The Context of HIV Risk Among Drug Users and Their Sexual Partners

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highlights the critical importance <strong>of</strong> researchers’ awareness <strong>of</strong> the<br />

increasing percentage <strong>of</strong> AIDS cases among women who have had sex<br />

with IDUs.<br />

Stephens <strong>and</strong> Alemagno also reviewed the growing literature on the<br />

effectiveness <strong>of</strong> intervention programs targeted at changing behaviors<br />

related to <strong>HIV</strong>/AIDS. <strong>The</strong>y review data from the National AIDS<br />

Demonstration Research (NADR) program sponsored by the National<br />

Institute on <strong>Drug</strong> Abuse (NIDA) <strong>and</strong> discuss changes in <strong>HIV</strong> risk-taking<br />

behaviors <strong>of</strong> the IDU population. While many drug users reported<br />

reducing their <strong>HIV</strong> risk behaviors, others continued to practice high-risk<br />

behaviors. NADR data, <strong>and</strong> more recently the Cooperative Agreement<br />

(CA) for AIDS Community-Based Outreach/Intervention Research<br />

Program data, suggest that it is very important to begin to focus more on<br />

IDUs’ sexual risk practices to help prevent the spread <strong>of</strong> <strong>HIV</strong>.<br />

Far less is understood about <strong>HIV</strong> risk-taking behaviors <strong>of</strong> male<br />

heterosexual non-IDUs, particularly crack users who engage in sexual<br />

practices that put them at risk for acquiring or transmitting <strong>HIV</strong> infection.<br />

<strong>The</strong> crack epidemic emerged during the mid-1980s, years after the first<br />

AIDS case was reported to the Centers for Disease Control <strong>and</strong><br />

Prevention (CDC). Most <strong>of</strong> the <strong>HIV</strong> epidemiology focused on the modes<br />

<strong>of</strong> transmission in the high prevalence groups <strong>of</strong> gay/bisexual men <strong>and</strong><br />

male <strong>and</strong> female IDUs. To date, only 7 percent <strong>of</strong> AIDS cases are<br />

attributable to heterosexual exposure, <strong>and</strong> the percentage <strong>of</strong> AIDS cases<br />

among male heterosexual non-IDUs is very low (Centers for Disease<br />

Control <strong>and</strong> Prevention 1993). <strong>The</strong>re is no separate CDC category to<br />

classify men or women who are noninjecting crack users, have had sex<br />

with <strong>HIV</strong>-infected men or women, <strong>and</strong> attribute their <strong>HIV</strong>/AIDS status to<br />

sexual transmission <strong>and</strong> noninjection drug use. <strong>The</strong>se cases would be<br />

classified in the exposure category <strong>of</strong> heterosexual contact, <strong>and</strong> more<br />

specifically classified as sex with an <strong>HIV</strong>-infected person, risk not<br />

specified (Centers for Disease Control <strong>and</strong> Prevention 1993).<br />

Inciardi developed his chapter on crack, sex, <strong>and</strong> secondary spread <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>HIV</strong> by relying on literature related to the efficiency <strong>of</strong> female-to-male<br />

transmission; c<strong>of</strong>actors in female-to-male transmission <strong>of</strong> <strong>HIV</strong>; <strong>and</strong> the<br />

small, but rapidly growing, ethnographic literature on bartering <strong>of</strong> sex for<br />

crack cocaine. <strong>The</strong> chapter reviews explanations for the documented<br />

higher rates <strong>of</strong> female-to-male infections in Africa <strong>and</strong> Europe than in the<br />

United States. While the epidemiologic data are not adequate to permit<br />

estimates <strong>of</strong> cases attributable to crack-using heterosexuals who have sex<br />

6

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