High Prevalence of HIV, Syphilis and HCV, and Low Methadone Maintenance Treatment in a Migrant Population in Beijing.

Filed under: Methadone Clinics

J Addict Med. 2012 Oct 4;
Li D, Chu P, Yang Y, Li S, Ruan Y, Liu Z, Cao X, Lu L, Jia Z

OBJECTIVES:: To provide evidence for policy makers for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and control, we investigated HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the availability of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) among migrant drug users in Beijing. METHODS:: A total of 222 participants from 3 main communities where drug abusers reside were interviewed, completed a questionnaire, and were screened for HIV using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, confirmed by Western blot. Descriptive statistics, ? tests, and binary logistic regression models were used to analyze differences in HIV and sexually transmitted diseases among different subpopulations. RESULTS:: The prevalence of HIV and syphilis in the migrant population was much higher than in permanent residents (43.0% vs 2.1% and 13.3% vs 4.3%, respectively). The HIV-infected cases in the migrant population were 33-fold higher than in permanent residents. Compared with permanent residents, the availability of MMT was much lower in the migrant population (21.9% vs 70.2%), and they were less knowledgeable about MMT (37.0% vs 84.0%). Even for those who were knowledgeable about MMT, methadone treatment was still lower (46.8% vs 82.3%). Compared with the MMT group, higher infection rates of HIV and HCV were found in the no-MMT group (36.7% vs 10.6% and 64.8% vs 50.0%, respectively). Education and employment status contributed to the different distributions between permanent residents and the migrant population and the MMT and no-MMT groups. CONCLUSIONS:: The prevalence of HIV, syphilis, and HCV infection was higher, and the use of MMT was lower in the migrant population. The migrant population is a noticeable challenge for HIV prevention and control in Beijing.
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Methadone treatment centers and crime: The journal publishes both invited and unsolicited letters.

Filed under: Methadone Clinics

Addiction. 2012 Nov; 107(11): 2051-2
Mooney G

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Heroin addiction a growing scourge

Filed under: Methadone Clinics

The number of people seeking methadone treatment jumped from 25 in fiscal 2009 to 200 people currently, Brown said. She attributes that exclusively to a rise in people trying to get clean from prescription painkillers. Methadone helps the user ease out …
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