The expanding AIDS epidemic among people who inject drugs


bullet There are 16,000 new HIV infections each year among people who inject drugs.(1)
bullet In 2000, AIDS was the fifth leading causes of death for U.S. residents ages 25-44;(2)  Over 40 percent of those deaths involved people who had acquired AIDS through injecting drug use.(3)
bullet Between 1996 and 2000, the number of people living with AIDS acquired through injecting drug use increased by a third.(4)

Footnotes

(1) The estimate of 16,000 new cases of injection-related HIV every year is based on:

bullet The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate of  40,000 new cases a year for all exposure groups is taken from Robert S. Janssen, David R. Holtgrave, Ronald O. Valdiserri and others, 2001, "The serostatus approach to fighting the HIV epidemic: prevention strategies for infected individuals," American Journal of Public Health, July, vol.91, no.7 pages 1019-1024.
 
bullet The estimate that 40 percent of all new HIV infections are injection-related is based on the percent of new AIDS cases in 2000 involving 3 exposure groups: "injecting drug use," "men who have sex with men and inject drugs" and "heterosexual partners of injecting drug users." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. U.S. HIV and AIDS cases reported through December 2000, Vol. 12, No. 2, Tables 22 and 23. 

A methodology that would produce improved estimates of new HIV cases is outlined in Institute of Medicine. 2000. No Time to Lose: Getting More from HIV Prevention. Ruiz, Monica S., Alicia R. Gable, Edward H. Kaplan and others, eds. Washington, D.C. National Academy Press. pages 10-18.

(2) National Vital Statistics Reports. 2001. "Deaths:Preliminary Data for 2000,”  Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, by Arialdi M. Minino and Betty L. Smith, Table 7. vol. 49, no. 12. October 9. Available in Adobe Acrobat.

(3) Drug-related AIDS deaths are based on two exposure groups: "injecting drug use" and "men who have sex with men and inject drugs."  If the exposure group "heterosexual partners of injecting drug users" were included, the proportion of all AIDS deaths attributable to injecting drug use would be even higher.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2001.  HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. U.S. HIV and AIDS cases reported through June 2001.  Vol. 13, No. 1, Table 30.

(4)The category "people living with AIDS acquired through injecting drug use" includes both current and former injecting drug users.  The numbers are the sum of two exposure categories "injecting drug use" and "men who have sex with men and inject drugs" and are taken from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2000.  HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. U.S. HIV and AIDS cases reported through June 2001.  Vol. 13, No. 1. Table 27.

For a list of other materials used on this website, see References.