Source: CNews Online 
Pubdate: 21 Jan 1998

HIV EPIDEMIC AMONG DRUG USERS AT 'SATURATION'

Canadian health officials said Wednesday that while an HIV outbreak among
drug addicts in Vancouver appears to have peaked, it still holds a great
deal of potential danger. Research shows that the use of dirty, infected
needles throughout the poverty-ridden area near the center of the city has
led to a higher concentration of the virus--a situation which Martin
Schechter, who heads the study, called the "saturation effect." Schechter's
study, known as the Vancouver Injection Drug Use Study, found that levels
of new infection fell 5 percent toward the end of last year and the
beginning of this year, from an 18 percent infection rate recorded in
mid-1997. However, most health officials agree that the crisis is far from
over, as cheap housing and a surfeit of drugs continues to draw people to
the area.