Subject: Up to One-Third Of IV Drug Users Carry AIDS Virus 
Date: Published: 5/12/89 (81 lines)
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Technology:  
    Up to One-Third
    Of IV Drug Users
    Carry AIDS Virus
    ----   
    By Marilyn Chase
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    In the most comprehensive survey to date of AIDS-virus
 infection among the estimated 1.2 million intravenous drug
 users in the U. S., federal scientists said that as many as
 one in three may be infected.
    Robert A. Hahn, a researcher at the Centers for Disease
 Control in Atlanta, and his colleagues reviewed 92 studies
 charting the virus as it makes its way into groups of drug
 users around the U. S. Summarizing the regional studies, they
 concluded that the infection rate among drug users ranges
 from 5% to 33%, or from 61,000 to 398,000 people.  The total
 number of people infected with the AIDS virus in the U. S. is
 estimated to range from one million to 1.5 million people.
    Donald Des Jarlais, research director of the chemical
 dependency program at New York's Beth Israel Medical Center,
 endorsed the CDC report and called the high end of its range
 "a good estimate.  If you figure 100,000 {infected drug users}
 in New York alone, and 50,000 in the nearby suburbs of New
 Jersey and Connecticut, that's about half the total number in
 the U. S.  "
    From city to city, the prevalence of the virus among
 addicts varies widely -- from a high infection rate of 65% in
 Brooklyn, N. Y., to a low of 5% in Miami, Los Angeles and
 Denver.  In between are cities such as Detroit and San
 Francisco, reporting between 7% and 13% of their drug users
 infected.  The higher infection rate of Northeastern drug
 users may reflect more sharing of needles in visits to
 so-called shooting galleries by users.
    The report, published in today's edition of the Journal of
 the American Medical Association, warns that all such numbers
 "should be used with caution" because they are based, in part
 on estimates and blood studies dating from 1986 and 1987.  CDC
 currently is doing new surveys of addicts around the country
 to update and monitor infection trends more precisely.
    Mr. Des Jarlais said currently 80% to 85% of addicts
 receive no treatment for their addiction, probably adding to
 the likelihood they will become infected.  He noted that New
 York has an average waiting time of two months to three
 months to get into a methodone program.
    Another "major concern" is crack houses, where addicts
 obtain the smokable cocaine, along with sexual services of
 women who barter their bodies in exchange for the drug.  This
 multiplies the risk of transmitting the virus.  Mr. Des
 Jarlais said health authorities are "frantically" trying to
 assess the role of crack houses in spreading the AIDS virus.
    Particularly disturbing to health officials, Mr. Des
 Jarlais added, is that the number of new IV drug users has
 grown at a constant rate since the start of the AIDS epidemic
 -- demonstrating the failure of current education campaigns.
 Despite this, he believes some drug users can and do change
 their behavior.
    "You have to do more than educate," he said.  Information
 must be accompanied by counseling, treatment and needle
 exchanges for those unable to quit after decades of drug use,
 Mr. Des Jarlais said.  "All are absolutely necessary
 components of a total solution."
    Separately, a Gallup Poll of Californians yesterday said
 that residents of that state are highly aware of the AIDS
 epidemic, but are doing relatively little about it.  Although
 25% of the state's residents said they're afraid of
 contracting the disease, only 15% said they have changed
 their behavior as a result.  Most alarming to health officials
 is the fact that less than one-quarter (23%) of blood
 transfusion recipients have sought an antibody test, despite
 appeals to do so.

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