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

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GAY AND BISEXUAL INJECTING DRUG USERS<br />

NIDA’s AIDS research 5-year planning process (see Battjes et al., this<br />

volume) identified the dual risk group <strong>of</strong> gay <strong>and</strong> bisexual men who<br />

inject drugs as a major research gap. Relatively little research has<br />

focused specifically on this population, although they comprise 6 percent<br />

<strong>of</strong> all AIDS cases, 10 percent <strong>of</strong> AIDS cases occurring in men who report<br />

sex with men, <strong>and</strong> 21 percent <strong>of</strong> AIDS cases occurring in IDUs (Centers<br />

for Disease Control <strong>and</strong> Prevention 1993). AIDS case data indicate that<br />

persons in this dual risk group are at substantially increased risk for AIDS<br />

compared with persons reporting either risk behavior alone.<br />

While men who have sex with men comprise 21 percent <strong>of</strong> AIDS cases in<br />

IDUs, it appears that relatively few <strong>of</strong> this dual risk group are reached<br />

through the primary <strong>HIV</strong> prevention initiatives that target drug abusers<br />

(i.e., drug abuse treatment <strong>and</strong> AIDS outreach programs). For example,<br />

in NIDA’s <strong>HIV</strong> Seroprevalence Survey, which studied IDUs admitted to<br />

methadone treatment in nine U.S. cities between 1987 <strong>and</strong> 1991, only<br />

0.8 percent <strong>of</strong> approximately 6,400 male IDUs reported having<br />

exclusively homosexual sexual contacts within the previous year, while<br />

another 0.9 percent reported both male <strong>and</strong> female sexual partners<br />

(Battjes, unpublished data). In the NIDA-supported National AIDS<br />

Demonstration Research (NADR) program, which evaluated street<br />

outreach to IDUs at 61 sites between 1987 <strong>and</strong> 1992, only 2.2 percent <strong>of</strong><br />

approximately 35,000 males reported having only male sexual partners<br />

within the prior 6 months, while 2.9 percent reported having both male<br />

<strong>and</strong> female sexual partners (Needle, personal communication, March<br />

1993). In the NIDA-supported <strong>HIV</strong> Outreach Cooperative Agreement<br />

research program, which is evaluating <strong>HIV</strong> outreach <strong>and</strong> counseling to<br />

IDUs <strong>and</strong> crack cocaine users in 22 cities, only 2 percent <strong>of</strong><br />

approximately 4,100 males enrolled between January 1992 <strong>and</strong> April<br />

1993 reported having either exclusively male or both male <strong>and</strong> female<br />

sexual partners (Needle, personal communication, March 1993).<br />

Increased risk <strong>of</strong> <strong>HIV</strong> infection in this dual risk group compared with<br />

non-IDU gay <strong>and</strong> bisexual men has been reported by Stall <strong>and</strong> Ostrow<br />

(1989) in their analysis <strong>of</strong> gay <strong>and</strong> bisexual men participating in the San<br />

Francisco Men’s Health Study. At study entry, 88.2 percent (30 <strong>of</strong> 34) <strong>of</strong><br />

gay <strong>and</strong> bisexual men who reported injecting drug use were <strong>HIV</strong><br />

seropositive, compared with 46.2 percent (189 <strong>of</strong> 409) <strong>of</strong> non-IDU gay<br />

<strong>and</strong> bisexual men. Gay <strong>and</strong> bisexual male IDUs in NIDA’s <strong>HIV</strong><br />

Seroprevalence Survey were more likely to be infected than other IDUs,<br />

83

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