Pubdate: Tue, 07 Aug 2001 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company Section: Section F; Page 8; Column 4; Health & Fitness Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Author: Eric Nagourney Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) A CLOSER LOOK AT NEEDLE EXCHANGES Allowing drug addicts to exchange old needles for new ones has been shown to reduce needle sharing, a major source of H.I.V. infection, researchers from the University of California at Davis reported in the current issue of the journal AIDS. The lead author, Dr. David R. Gibson, and his colleagues based their findings on a review of 42 studies, published from 1989 to 1999, that looked at needle exchange programs. Twenty-eight found a clear reduction in the risk of H.I.V. infection, the report said, while 12 found no effect or were equivocal and 2 found an increased risk. The Davis researchers, however, found that flaws in the studies with neutral or unfavorable findings might have masked the benefits of needle exchange. All 14 studies were conducted in parts of the world where needles could be bought legally in drugstores -- potentially diluting the effect of the exchange programs. This was an issue in only 5 of the 28 studies that reported favorably about the programs. Those 28 studies found that when needle exchange programs were tried in San Francisco, Portland, Ore., Tacoma, Wash., and Baltimore, needle sharing decreased by a range of 16 percent to 72 percent. And in New Haven, the study said, researchers examining needles exchanged by drug users found that the number of needles carrying H.I.V. dropped by about a third in the first three months of an exchange program. Still, the study acknowledged that the programs alone might not be enough to prevent AIDS from spreading among drug users. And in another new study, to be published next month in The Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, researchers from Johns Hopkins report that a majority of addicts in Baltimore still buy needles on the street, despite available exchange programs. Only 4 percent told researchers they used needles from exchange programs exclusively. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk