14.12.2012 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

the skin on his penis while having intercourse with a crack house<br />

prostitute while she was menstruating. This informant also indicated that<br />

vaginal sex during menses was not a rare event. As such, genital<br />

secretions as well as semen <strong>and</strong> blood come into direct contact with the<br />

traumatized skin <strong>of</strong> a client’s penis during crack house sex.<br />

In many crack houses, it is not uncommon for women to engage in<br />

repeated oral, vaginal, <strong>and</strong> anal sexual activities, <strong>of</strong>ten with no time lapse<br />

between successive customers. Since condom use is rare, not only are the<br />

women exposed to the semen <strong>of</strong> all <strong>of</strong> their male partners, but successive<br />

male partners also are exposed to the semen <strong>of</strong> the women’s previous<br />

partners (Inciardi et al. 1992). As such, heterosexual transmission <strong>of</strong> <strong>HIV</strong><br />

can be from male to female, female to male, <strong>and</strong> male to male. It would<br />

appear, moreover, that this phenomenon is not unique to crack house sex.<br />

In an Orange County, California, study <strong>of</strong> Hispanic undocumented<br />

migrant workers <strong>and</strong> heroin-addicted prostitutes (Magana 1991), a<br />

parallel situation was found. Large numbers <strong>of</strong> men engaged in vaginal<br />

intercourse with the same woman in rapid succession-a sexual behavior<br />

referred to by the participants as becoming “milk brothers.”<br />

Finally, there is the matter <strong>of</strong> oral sex. Few studies have associated orogenital<br />

sex with <strong>HIV</strong> transmission (Fischl et al. 1987; Puro et al. 1991),<br />

<strong>and</strong> the majority <strong>of</strong> reports have examined this transmission route among<br />

homosexual men (Keet et al. 1992; Lifson et al. 1990; Rozenbaum et al.<br />

1988). Only one fully documented case <strong>of</strong> female-to-male transmission<br />

through oral sex has appeared in the literature (Spitzer <strong>and</strong> Weiner 1989).<br />

In crack houses, oral sex (both fellatio <strong>and</strong> cunnilingus) is common.<br />

Given such risk factors <strong>and</strong> c<strong>of</strong>actors as STD infections, genital ulcers,<br />

lesions on the lips <strong>and</strong> tongue, <strong>and</strong> abrasions on the penis <strong>and</strong> in the<br />

vagina among those who exchange sex for crack, the potential for<br />

female-to-male transmission <strong>of</strong> <strong>HIV</strong> through oral sex is not<br />

inconsiderable.<br />

CONCLUSIONS<br />

As is apparent from this review, any examination <strong>of</strong> <strong>HIV</strong> risks among<br />

heterosexual male non-IDUs must be done primarily through indirect<br />

evidence. At present, the number <strong>of</strong> confirmed cases <strong>of</strong> female-to-male<br />

AIDS cases in the United States is comparatively small, <strong>and</strong> the majority<br />

<strong>of</strong> studies <strong>of</strong> drug-using groups find that most subjects have multiple risk<br />

34

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!