| Abstract: | Summary To date, long-term intravenous drug users studied at regional European centers of illicit drug use have had a high number of LAV/HTLV-III infections. Among 200 patients remanded by court or referred from prison to a special clinic in northern Germany for young delinquent drug abusers, 26 (17%) of 157 IV drug abusers were HTLV-III seropositive. With 40% seropositive, female patients showed a significantly higher prevalence of HTLV-III infection than males. The results of longitudinal serological, immunological, and clinical observations over periods of 12 months and 2–3 years indicate that under conditions of continuous medical surveillance, sound preventive counseling, and steady therapeutic care during long-term coeducative residential treatment of drug abusers, neither detectable HTLV-III transmission nor definite progression of HTLV-III induced impairment of immune regulatory functions must ensue.Abbreviations AIDS acquired immune deficiency syndrome - CDC Centers for Disease Control - HTLV-III human T-lymphotropic virus type III - IV intravenous - LAV lymphadenopathy-associated virus |
