Cultural Spread of AIDS

Black and Latino drug addicts may be more likely to become infected with the AIDS virus because they frequent “shooting galleries” more commonly than Anglos, researchers reported. A new study involving 452 intravenous drug users in New York City found that those who were black and Latino were much more likely to share needles with strangers in illicit drug havens than were their Anglo counterparts.

“This is a very, very high-risk behavior,” said Dr. Ellie Schoenbaum, an assistant professor of epidemiology and social medicine at the Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

“This is the first paper that actually begins to provide data to back up that there are behaviors that are linked to cultural factors that need to be looked at to try to prevent the spread of (the AIDS virus),” she said.

Researchers have long known the AIDS virus was spread among drug addicts sharing hypodermic needles and that there was a higher rate of infection among non-Anglo drug users.

The new study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.