- H A Míguez: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A research has been carried out at several centers for the treatment of drug abusers in Argentina, during the year 1989. Questions related to HIV infection were included among the topics under study. A questionnaire was filled out by 659 patients from both State-run, and private rehabilitation centers. 13.7% of the patients informed that they were HIV-infected, a percentage that reached 21% among shot injected drug abusers. An inquiry about prevention and care strategies (if any) these abusers resorted to, as far as the avoidance of HIV transmission to other people was concerned, revealed a tremendous lack of information. Thus, the major differences between HIV-infected, or non-infected substance abusers referred only to the kind of abused substance, and addiction consequences. Infected patients feature a higher cocaine consumption, higher overdose problems, accidents, and police taking them into custody.