Drug abuse and HIV risk- An autopsy based study

Abstract

Substance abuse is a major public health problem all over world and showing rising trends in current scenario. Drug abusers are more prone to viral infections like HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C due to sharing of common needles. Therefore present study aim is to find out the prevalence of HIV among dead bodies (Claimed and unclaimed both) having documented history of drug abuse brought for autopsy. Out of 200 cases, 100 cases had known identities and 100 had unknown identities. 177 cases (88.5%) were males and 23(11.5%) were females. Out of 200 cases, 86 cases (43%) had positive history of drug abuse. History of drug abuse was present in 79% of unclaimed cases as compared to 7% in claimed cases. HIV was four times more prevalent among unknown cases compared to known cases. HIV positive cases were found only in male individuals (5.64 %). Majority of cases (79.06%, 68 out of 86 cases) having history of drug abuse was found in age group of 21-50 years. Maximum prevalence of drug abuser with positive HIV infection was found in age group of 31-40 years (44.4%, 4 out of 9 cases). 1(14.28%) case was found ELISA positive among 7 known individuals with history of drug abuse, and 8(10.12%) cases were among 79 unknown individuals with history of drug abuse.Results of this study help in highlighting the fact that HIV infection is more common among intravenous drug users (IDUs). Substance abuse causes overburdening of state and national health schemes. Therefore mental health literacy can be a part of de-addiction programs. Keywords: HIV, Claimed cases, Unclaimed cases, Intravenous drug user (IDU).