Failure to aid drug users drives HIV spread - study

[cory777]

Source: Reuters

Sun Feb 28, 2010 7:01pm ES
By Kate Kelland

LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) - More than 90 percent of the world's 16 million injecting drug users are offered no help to avoid contracting AIDS, and governments that ignore them risk a spiralling public health crisis, drugs experts said on Monday.

A "critical health problem" is growing in places like Russia, China, Malaysia and Thailand, they said, where drug users are a neglected population in the fight against AIDS and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes it.

Injecting drug use is an increasingly important cause of HIV transmission in many countries around the world. Users can spread the virus in blood by sharing needles with an HIV-infected person, and pass it on by having unprotected sex.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE61P0XM

[kestrel91316]

1. When are people gonna figure out that the GOAL of governments

(actually just the conservative ones that ignore HIV) is for these people to die, and the sooner the better? HIV is no different than a disabled child. It's apparently physical proof that you sinned and Gawd is displeased.

[warm regards]

54. That's strange, I thought I read something a few weeks ago

that indicated a cure or vaccine was at hand.

It seems to me if what you say were true, governments would block this development.

[madrchsod]

2. and hepatitis B....

i know several people who have hep B. it took 20-25 years before it hit them

[krispos42]

3. Lack of aid spreads AIDS.

Acronyms make for wordplay. Sad wordplay, in this case.

[scottsoperson]

49. karl rove supports

the sanctity of marriage.

[scottsoperson]

4. god is

a liberal.

[WriteDown]

5. Easy solution...

Sanitize your equipment people and don't share. Do we need to issue a pamphlet?

[closeupready]

6. ANOTHER pamphlet?

Pretty sure we're covered in the pamphlet department. I think where we are lacking is in the empathy department. Well, I'm not, but some of us here are.

[WriteDown]

7. Obviously, sharing still is rampant so the only thing to do is to try and educate...

Besides a pamphlet or a billboard, what else would you suggest? A cap full of bleach in a few gallons of water would also do the trick.

[pitohui]

9. you really think they need "education?" everybody already knows this

how stupid do you think people are?

i bet you think the secret to curing lung cancer is a billboard telling people "don't smoke"

[WriteDown]

11. Stupid enough not to sanitize their own needles and to share with others before sanitizing?

:shrug:

[Flaneur]

37. Needle exchanges, safe injection sites.

Both are proven to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases.

No, the answer is not another pamphlet.

[WriteDown]

42. See post 41. nt

[scottsoperson]

51. jesus the liberal

says help the poor and sick or go to hell.

[pitohui]

8. what difference would a pamplet make? "don't share" is useless words to a person in withdrawal

unless clean works are very easy to get, druggies are going to share, because the immediate need for the drug is so intense

addiction is a disease, and it is not a disease cured by somebody wagging a finger or shoving a pamphlet in your face

there's no "easy solution" to addiction, who would be an addict if there was? an addict is a slave on a v. short leash

[WriteDown]

10. A capful or bleach in a few gallons of water would do the trick...

Maybe that is what should be in the pamphlet.

[closeupready]

12. You are not listening to reasonable responses here.

You are lecturing. Please read what people have written in response to your suggestion.

[WriteDown]

13. I'm not hearing any solutions. nt

[closeupready]

14. Because you didn't read the very article which is the subject of this thread.

:eyes:

>>Infection prevention steps like providing needles, condoms and substitute drugs like methadone -- collectively known as "harm reduction" -- are seen by many experts as key to halting the spread of HIV and AIDS, but some governments are reluctant to provide them for fear of being seen to condone drug use.<<

[WriteDown]

15. So it's better to provide needles than to sanitize existing ones?

They are too in need of a fix to take the 10 seconds to sanitize, but are fine opening up the packaging of a new needle and then throwing it into a proper waste receptacle or recycling?

Double :eyes: :eyes:

[closeupready]

16. They take 10 seconds to sanitize? How on Earth do you know that?

???

[WriteDown]

17. A bleach solution works almost instantaneously...

I probably actually lengthened the time needed.

[closeupready]

18. So junkies are just going to walk around with bleach solutions in their pockets?

:wtf:

[WriteDown]

19. Or just have it where they shoot up.

All they need is a small vile of the solution.

[closeupready]

20. LOL You are a trip.

:rofl: Thanks for the laugh. :hi:

[WriteDown]

21. Yeah, its too much to ask. We really need to supply free heroin and needles because...

You can't expect people to carry around heroin and needles. They might get poked if they fell! :rofl:

[closeupready]

23. Are your arms tired?

(I understand you just flew in from Cleveland.) :rofl:

[WriteDown]

24. Once again, you offer zero solutions. Not surprising though. nt

[closeupready]

26. You are a riot, lol.

Keep it up, Mr. Dangerfield! :rofl:

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[WriteDown]

28. Are you familiar with the subject at hand?

Is there some reason why heroin addicts cannot be expected to sanitize their works? Are they just too stupid? :rofl:

[closeupready]

30. What's that, Mr. Kinison?

:rofl: :D

[WriteDown]

32. You sound a bit more like Kinison than I do...

Or maybe you're more the Chris Farley type? John Belushi? :rofl:

Let me ask you (in order to keep the thread on topic), what are some of your ideas Chris?

[closeupready]

33. Plonk.

:D

[WriteDown]

34. I see you are insistent on hijacking the thread. Please have at it then.

:)

[Flaneur]

40. They may not have the facilities.

Look, hard-core junkies are likely to be living on the streets, without easy access to running water, let alone bleach. Two or three of them will chip in together to get a dime bag, and, if there is no access to cleaning solutions or clean needles, they will share.

[WriteDown]

43. So money for drugs, but not enough for a 1$ jug of bleach or peroxide? See post 41. nt

[Flaneur]

50. Yeah. When you going in on a dime bag just to get a taste...

...that means you don't have a whole lot of money.

You might want to check out anthropologist Philippe Bourgeois's "Righteous Dopefiends." It's a study of homeless, middle-aged heroin users in San Francisco. Quite revealing.

[lepus]

55. Writedown has a point

Most needle users already keep a basic kit for shooting up. How hard would it be to add a vial of chlorine bleach solution to the materials already there? Basic kit IIRC is a spoon, lighter, clean filter from a cigarette, rubber strap, spare point, and a few other odds and ends. A vial of chlorine bleach solution is not going to add much to what they already have to have.

[closeupready]

56. I put Writedown right down on my downhome ignore list, since he couldn't give me the courtesy

of listening, even though I tried to listen and respond to his posts.

More to the point, I suppose there are some who would be prepared like this, or could be persuaded to do so.

But look at all these guys who are allegedly going to prostitutes and not using condoms despite the risk of contracting HIV. And that's with a natural human impulse. But with an addiction to substances, there is logically going to be less preparation - it's going to be "Score! Get high!" Probably in that order. I mean, junkies aren't going to spend the energy and time in being prepared that, for example, people going to the concert are going to.

I think there needs to be more public money dedicated to addressing drug abuse, including the measures listed in the opening story.

[Flaneur]

38. I repeat: Needle exchanges, safe injection sites.

Both are proven to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases.

[WriteDown]

44. And I'll repeat. See post 41. nt

[scottsoperson]

52. the solution would be

to follow jesus the liberal.

[pitohui]

35. this writedown person doesn't know what addiction is, hence can't offer useful ideas just kneejerk

anyone who thinks the answer to this issue is "easy" -- doesn't know what addiction is

at some point you cant help a person who has no knowledge and no experience to understand something that is so far outside of their experience -- all you can do is envy "writedown" for having never met an addict and not having any understanding of the power of these drives

writedown wants an "easy" answer and in fact in his/her very first post in this thread claims to have an "easy" answer because writedown doesn't understand the problem

must be nice!!!!!! to think such a problem can be solved with a pamphlet or a billboard

if addiction was a problem of the intellect, no smart person would have an addiction -- yet anyone who has some experience of the world knows how wrong that is, hell, even a high achiever like obama struggles w. cigarettes

addiction doesn't have a cheap, easy solution and that's a problem for people who need quick, easy answers

maybe writedown wants a job writing the brochures, but honestly...it's about stopping hiv/aids not abt a jobs program for brochure writers (not that there's anything wrong w. a jobs program for writers)

[WriteDown]

36. Please cite your ideas. nt

[Flaneur]

39. Needle exchanges, safe injection sites.

One more time. And what the hell, how about, opiate maintenance therapy, too?

[WriteDown]

41. So its easier to use, then store, then carry to an exchange....

than to sterilize? Does not seem to compute. I have no objection to opiate management or safe injection sites with the caveat that you are required to get therapy if you use the site.

[Flaneur]

46. I'm not sure about that, only that needle exchanges and safe injection sites...

are proven to work.

Actually, most NEPs and safe injection site programs offer access to a wide range of services, including drug treatment. But they don't make it mandatory. That is self-defeating. You don't want to drive injection drug users away from NEPs by forcing them into treatment they're not ready for. It may be morally satisfying for you, but this ain't about you; it's about saving lives and reducing the cost to society.

[WriteDown]

47. I don't see where sterilization has ever been promoted anywhere.

I am simply offering what I see to be a better solution.

This reminds me a bit of the homeless shelters. Most require that no alcohol or drugs be on the premises. Many will therefore not go to shelters. Is that wrong to you?

[Flaneur]

48. Maybe, just maybe, the public health experts who having been on this for years...

...know a bit more about it than you do. Sterilization is an option, and junkies are well aware of it; it's just that it is not always available.

When it comes to alcoholic or drug addicted homeless people, the best solution is probably to provide them housing, regardless of their state of sobriety. Giving the homeless housing saves the rest of us money: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE52U7GZ20090331

Again, it may seem morally repugnant, but it also seems to be smarter social policy.

[WriteDown]

57. Have you ever heard any public official even mention sterilization?

What about mobile sterilization booths? I sure haven't. I would just like to see it explored.

I think the policy with shelters is that you can come in as drunk as you want, but you cannot drink or take drugs while on the premises.

[closeupready]

45. Amen. "Got a problem? Here's a pamphlet."

I mean, wouldn't it be nice if all life's problems had such a cheap, easy solution.

(But they don't, that's why these problems persist.)

[mbperrin]

22. Typhoid Mary was the lesson at the turn of the 20th century.

But we don't study history any more anyway, just what's on The Test.

[WriteDown]

25. Interesting. What lesson was that?

We shouldn't have typhoid carriers working as cooks? :)

[mbperrin]

29. Yep, and when we fire them without money for treatment, and they go

door to door (in better neighborhoods, of course, who else has money?) asking for help, the more people who do not help, the more are exposed. The most vulnerable, children and old folk, die.

See, people always ask that bible question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" and they keep forgetting that the answer is YES.

There are external consequences to every action, but that would be critical thinking, again, not tested on The Test in schools any more.

[WriteDown]

31. Not sure if that is the lesson here...

She didn't need help since she wasn't sick. She just had to agree to take certain measures not to expose other people and she refused to do that because she didn't believe the doctors.

[scottsoperson]

53. another solution

pass obamacare.