ROLE OF DRUG INJECTION IN THE SPREAD OF HIV IN ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL

Drug injectors have become the second largest HIV transmission categor y in Argentina and Brazil, as is the case in many pattern I countries, making up more than one-quarter of all AIDS cases reported by 1991. H IV seroprevalence data suggest that the expanding proportion of AIDS c ases attributable to drug injection stems from an absolute increase in the number of AIDS cases among drug injectors, and is not merely refl ective of a decline in the proportion of cases reported in other trans mission categories. Results of a review of studies in Argentina and Br azil indicate that HIV seroprevalence is increasing rapidly, contrary to the situation in some pattern I countries in which HIV seroprevalen ce among drug injectors is either stably high or increasing only sligh tly. Also contrary to most pattern I countries, cocaine rather than he roin is the injected drug of choice in Argentina and Brazil. Given tha t injectors of cocaine are more likely to be HIV infected than are her oin injectors, differences in the type of drug injected between countr ies may have distinct epidemiological consequences on the spread of HI V.