HIV Infection Among Injection-Drug Users — 34 States, 2004–2007
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC)

Since the peak of the HIV epidemic among IDUs in the late 1980s, HIV incidence among IDUs has decreased by nearly 80% (2). Despite that overall decline, IDUs continue to represent a substantial proportion of persons with new HIV diagnoses. Recent evidence suggests many IDUs continue to engage in high-risk behaviors such as sharing syringes and having unprotected sex (32% and 63% during the past 12 months, respectively [3]). The higher number of HIV infections among blacks or African Americans is consistent with reports that blacks or African Americans are more likely to inject drugs than whites and have higher rates of HIV infection overall (1,4). HIV prevention programs should be enhanced to target IDUs, especially black or African American IDUs, and to always include HIV testing as a component of the prevention program.

Although a recent analysis indicated that overall testing during the preceding 12 months among IDUs was high (72%) (3), the results in this report indicated that, during 2004–2006, approximately 40% of IDUs received late HIV diagnoses. In another previous analysis, the percentage of late HIV diagnoses among IDUs was found to be significantly higher than among persons in the other major risk behavior categories: MSM (35%), MSM/IDUs (37%) and persons who engage in high-risk heterosexual contact (37%) (CDC, unpublished data, 2009). In addition, IDUs tend to receive HIV diagnoses at older ages than persons who are not IDUs (1), suggesting that IDUs might continue high-risk behaviors at older ages (5) or might be more likely to receive late testing and diagnosis.

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