STUDY: PAKISTANI DRUG USE THREATENS BLOOD SUPPLY

Thirty percent of injection drug users in Pakistan are paid to donate blood
- -- a potentially dangerous practice that could contaminate the global blood
supply, according to a new Johns Hopkins study.

Researchers from the Bloomberg School of Public Health found Pakistani
injection drug users were twice as likely to donate blood as non-drug
users, and concluded unless appropriate screening occurs, such diseases as
HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C could spread "like wildfire" to the country's
general population. Eventually, the diseases could spread elsewhere, they said.

In the study, researchers examined the behavior of 608 drug users in three
Pakistani cities. The majority of those studied used heroin, but nearly 60
percent had never heard of AIDS and half of injection drug users said they
shared needles. When they did attempt to sterilize needles, their methods
were not sufficient to disinfect them.

Researchers concluded "if HIV seriously penetrates the injection drug user
population in Pakistan, our findings suggest that a generalized epidemic
could subsequently occur."

The study appears in the June issue of the Journal of Urban Health.