AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF HIV-INFECTION IN A COHORT OF INTRAVENOUS-DRUG-USERS

Intravenous drug use has been a serious problem for Dublin's deprived inner city areas since the late 1970's, In 1985, a cohort of all known intravenous drug users (IVDUs) was identified in one inner city elect oral cohort and has been followed since then, The cohort was identifie d before the introduction of HIV testing, The prevalence of HIV infect ion and its consequences have continued to rise, By 1994, 80% of the g roup were known to have had a HIV test: 53 (65%) are seropositive. Twe nty-one (26%) have died, almost all from the seropositive group. Thirt y-six (44%) continued to inject heroin during 1994. The implications o f these grim statistics are discussed.