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17:18 26 July 2005 An epidemic of HIV infections is sweeping along the infamous heroin-trafficking highways from Afghanistan to Eastern Europe, says a US researcher. The surge in cases among intravenous drug users is fuelled by inadequate access to drug-addiction treatment, needle-sharing and users’ proximity to the routes. “This HIV/AIDS epidemic is just beginning and the virus is, again, ahead of our responses,” says Chris Beyrer at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Drug treatment and HIV prevention must be implemented now, everywhere the heroin is flowing.” Eastern Europe and Central Asia are home to 1.4 million HIV-positive people, Beyrer reported at the International Aids Society Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Most acquired the virus from sharing intravenous drug injection equipment. Though adult prevalence is still low in Eastern Europe
– in most countries under 2% of the adult population – the stage is
set for an “explosive” boom, Beyrer warns. In Estonia, for example,
the number of cases went from 0 to 450 in under a year between 1999
and 2000. Most of the drug users are young, male and sexually active,
making the possibility of wider spread more likely. Hope remainsThe researchers trace a direct link with the plentiful heroin coming out of Afghanistan, which produced 420 tonnes of the narcotic in 2004. The effects are also starting to show in its closest neighbours, Iran and Tajikistan. Afghan heroin on its way to Eastern Europe takes a direct route through Tajikistan, the poorest country of the former Soviet Union. HIV prevalence among its drug users was 12% in 2004, up from 4% in 2001. HIV prevalence among Iran’s two to four million drug users is 15%. But, says Beyrer, there is hope. Brazil implemented aggressive HIV prevention strategies among its drug-using community and has since seen a decline in transmission rates. Tajikistan users with access to needle exchanges had half the prevalence rate of those who did not. Unfortunately, less than 10% of people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have access to such resources. Changes will have to come from the authorities, says Beyrer. Methadone – a drug used to treat heroin addiction – is still illegal in Russia. The US still does not fund needle exchange programmes, neither at home nor abroad.
LancasterOnline.com Experts Say Afghan Heroin Spreading AIDSBy Michael Astor | Associated Press Writer | Published: Jul 25, 2005 5:35 PM ESTRIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - Heroin flowing out of Afghanistan is creating a new AIDS epidemic among drug addicts in Eurasia, where the disease once had been rare, scientists said Monday. Dr. Christopher Beyrer said a rising number of HIV infections had been detected in Belarus, Iran, Moldavia, Tajikistan, the Ukraine and other countries (без РФ) along the route traffickers use to smuggle Afghan heroin into Eastern Europe. HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, is often spread among intravenous drug users who share needles. Beyrer said the situation was especially dangerous because only about 10 percent (кто и как считал?) of drug users have access to needle exchange and drug substitution programs in those countries, where cheap heroin has become readily available since the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was toppled. Beyrer, an associate professor of epidemiology and international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, spoke Monday at the Third International AIDS Society Conference on Pathogenesis and Treatment. The four-day conference, which ends Wednesday, has assembled some 5,000 scientists, health care providers and public policy specialists to discuss the latest advances in the fight against AIDS. "Today's presentations give us a window into an evolving epidemic that is growing steadily more severe," said Dr. Celso Ramos, a former president of the Brazilian Infectology Society. "The global response must be as dynamic as the epidemic itself." The fight against AIDS was given a new impetus earlier this month after world leaders at the G8 meeting in Scotland endorsed the goal of universal access to antiretroviral treatment by 2010. Antiretroviral drugs are the only available treatment for the disease. The drugs are effective but expensive, and many patients have side effects and develop resistance to them over time.
* WHO misses
HIV targets, but makes progress |
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