HIV epidemics are emerging among people who inject drugs (PWID) in several countries in the [b]Middle East[/b] and [b]North Africa[/b], reports [s]News-Medical[/s]. Research has found that although HIV infection levels were historically very low in these regions, substantial levels of HIV transmission and emerging HIV epidemics have been documented among people who inject drugs in at least one-third of the countries of this region. In countries such as [b]Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Oman[/b] and [b]Pakistan[/b], on average between 10% and 15% of PWID are HIV-positive. ‘We found also indications that there could be hidden HIV epidemics among this marginalised population in several countries with still-limited data,’ said Ghina Mumtaz, lead author of the study and senior epidemiologist at the [b]Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group[/b] at [b]Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar[/b].
[link url=http://www.news-medical.net/news/20140620/HIV-infection-emerges-among-PWID-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-Africa.aspx]Full News-Medical report[/link]
[link url=http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000444]PLOS Medicine abstract[/link]