Profile of male Brazilian injecting drug users who have sex with men

Grand challenges in chronic non-communicable diseases

“…In the latter study, more than one quarter (26%) of the injecting drug users reported having unprotected sex with other men, apparently as a means of financing their drug use. Such findings reinforce the need to address both sexual and drug-related risk practices in drug users (Ferreira et al, 2006). In addition, a strong association between crack use and HIV infection is apparent in several cities, including Porto Alegre (where 27% of crack users were found to be infected) (Pechansky et al, 2006).…”

Utilization of HIV/AIDS treatment services: comparing injecting drug users and other clients

“…Considering that the literature suggests that IDUs attended by SEP have greater rates of service utilization than others, including greater adherence to treatments 2,5,11,12,14,32 , it may be supposed that in the absence of these data, this study underestimated the differences between IDUs and non-IDUs. On the other hand, the present study's sample is comparable to those described by earlier studies done with the same population 2,19,33,41,42 , reaffirming its external validity.…”

The contribution of two Brazilian multi-center studies to the assessment of HIV and HCV infection and prevention strategies among injecting drug users: the AjUDE-Brasil I and II Projects

“…The main risk factors for HCV infection in this group appear to be related to the characteristics of initiation into drug injecting, including age at initiation, duration and frequency, type of drug injected, and sharing of injecting equipment, expressed here as "giving or receiving syringes and needles", aspects discussed in the work by Zocrato et al 10 . Sexual transmission of HCV, although controversial, has been documented by growing evidence in male populations, especially those living with HIV/AIDS and who report unprotected sex with other men 9,11,17 . Suffice it to recall that some 30% of our sample reported a history of sex with other men, and that Ferreira et al 11 may not have identified such an association due to this infection's high prevalence in their study population and the undeniably preponderant role of parenteral transmission in this population.…”

“…Sexual transmission of HCV, although controversial, has been documented by growing evidence in male populations, especially those living with HIV/AIDS and who report unprotected sex with other men 9,11,17 . Suffice it to recall that some 30% of our sample reported a history of sex with other men, and that Ferreira et al 11 may not have identified such an association due to this infection's high prevalence in their study population and the undeniably preponderant role of parenteral transmission in this population.…”

“…Methods and procedures used in the two studies have been described in various publications 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 . They will be summarized to introduce the analyses conducted herein and the respective findings, as well as to provide an overview of the two studies, which provide the material for several articles in this same thematic issue.…”