Bloodborne and sexually transmitted infections in drug users in a hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Injection drug users (IDUs) constitute a population highly vulnerable to infections transmitted by blood or sexual relations. Social problems and marginalization hinder IDUs from accessing the health care system. The rates of prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis C virus, and hepatitis B virus infections in IDUs are high, and they have become of great concern for the Argentinean health care system. An integral frame oriented to identifying the extent of the different individual risk factors, and to enhancing social circumstances, has shown a significant benefit in terms of personal and social matters. These risk factors were analyzed according to a severity of drug abuse scoring system. At the beginning of the study, only 7 of 108 patients were in a low gravity stage, whereas there were 40 patients in the low gravity stage by the end of the study (P<.0001). On the basis of our results, we conclude that low-cost nonmedical tools are effective and have a high impact on patients' health.