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HIV and AIDS

Study praises needle exchanges

Needleexchange programs, in which intravenous drug
users can exchange used needles for sterile new ones, could
have prevented 10,000 HIV infections in the U.S. among
needle users, their sex partners and their children since
1987, according to a University of California at San
Francisco study published March 1. HIV is the virus that
causes AIDS. In Detroit, a needleexchange program would
have prevented 152 infections from 1987 to 1995 the
researchers calculate, saving nearly $ 8.5 million in
treatment costs over that period.

The federal government has a ban on needleexchange
programs, but if that ban were lifted now, an additional
11,300 infections could be prevented between now and the
year 2000, according to Dr. Peter Lurie of the UCSF Center
for AIDS Prevention Studies.