HIV infection and intravenous drug use

During the past year, several important issues relating to intravenous drug use and the epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have received increasing attention in the medical literature: 1) an increasing recognition of the magnitude and central role of intravenous drug users (IVDUs) in the epidemic; 2) a substantial body of published literature exploring the complex factors associated with transmission of HIV infection among IVDUs accompanied by only preliminary observations on interventions that may reduce the spread of HIV among IVDUs; and 3) an appreciation of the natural history of HIV infection, with particular emphasis on the expanded spectrum of HIV-related disease in this population. These issues are reviewed in this article.