HIV SURVEILLANCE BY TESTING SALIVA FROM INJECTING DRUG-USERS - A NATIONAL STUDY IN NEW-ZEALAND

Objective - To determine whether the prevalence of HIV infection among injecting drug users in New Zealand has remained low since the introd uction of a needle and syringe exchange scheme in May 1988. Design - A nonymous survey of intravenous drug users attending outlets of the exc hange scheme, based on questionnaires and saliva testing. Setting - Tw elve pharmacies and community outreach organisations in six cities. Su bjects - Altogether 620 people provided saliva specimens and completed questionnaires. These represented 73% of those who visited exchange s cheme outlets during a three month period in 1992. Main outcome measur e - Saliva was tested for antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2 using an IgG-c apture enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (GACELISA). Results - Of 591 specimens eligible for inclusion, only three (0.5%) were repeatedly re active in the GACELISA test, while two of these were also positive in a Western blot test. Conclusions - Although surveys show that sharing of needles and syringes was common in New Zealand until recently, the prevalence of HIV infection in intravenous drug users has remained low . This can probably be attributed to the success of educational campai gns and legislative action to allow a needle and syringe exchange sche me to be set up.