New cases of HIV among people who inject drugs in Hungary: False alarm or early warning?

Between 2009 and the first quarter of 2014, only one case of HIV (contracted outside Hungary) was detected among PWIDs in Hungary. However, more recent evidence suggests increased sharing of injecting paraphernalia among PWIDs. This is linked to the emergence of new designer drugs that require frequent injection, alongside funding cuts to the Hungarian needle exchange program (NEP) which has reduced access to sterile injecting equipment. During the past five years in Hungary, drug use has become increasingly discussed in moral as opposed to public health terms, and drug consumption has been re-criminalized. The largest NEP in Hungary was closed because of political pressure and government funding for regular HCV/HIV testing/counselling and seroprevalence studies among PWIDs has been stopped. This paper describes the detection of two new cases of HIV infection in PWIDs attending two NEPs in Budapest in May 2014. These new cases may indicate an unfolding HIV outbreak among PWIDs-similar to those reported in Greece and Romania. Yet the question remains: If no further HIV cases are detected, is this because there are no new cases or because there are no testing facilities for PWID?

Emerging Risks Due to New Injecting Patterns in Hungary During Austerity Times.

As a consequence of the massive restructuring of drug availability, heroin injection in Hungary was largely replaced by the injecting of new psychoactive substances (NPS) starting in 2010. In the following years in our sero-prevalence studies we documented higher levels of injecting paraphernalia sharing, daily injection-times, syringe reuse, and HCV prevalence among stimulant injectors, especially among NPS injectors. Despite the increasing demand, in 2012 the number of syringes distributed dropped by 35% due to austerity measures. Effects of drug market changes and the economic recession may have future epidemiological consequences. Study limitations are noted and future needed research is suggested.

The association between social marginalisation and the injecting of alcohol amongst IDUs in Budapest, Hungary.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol injecting may cause intense irritation, serious vein damage, and additional risks. What little is known about alcohol injecting points to the potential role of social marginalisation. METHODS: Injecting drug users (N=215) were recruited between October 2005 and December 2006 in Budapest, Hungary from non-treatment settings. Multivariate logistic regression models identified correlates of lifetime alcohol injecting. RESULTS: About a quarter (23%) reported ever injecting alcohol-only 3% reported injecting alcohol in the past 30 days. In multivariate analysis, six variables were statistically significantly associated with ever injecting alcohol: male gender, being homeless, ever sharing cookers or filters and injecting mostly in public places showed a positive association, whilst Roma ethnicity and working at least part time showed a negative association. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that alcohol injecting is more of a rare event than a so far undiscovered research and prevention priority. Still, providers of harm reduction services should be aware that alcohol injecting happens, albeit rarely, especially amongst socially marginalised IDUs, who should be counselled about the risks of and discouraged from alcohol injecting.

[Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing among injecting drug users]. / Humán immundeficientia-vírus és hepatitis C-vírus szurovizsgálatai injektáló kábítószer-használók körében.

In Hungary, there is a need for widely accessible HIV and HCV testing and counseling for injecting drug users. Theoretically, free and confidential rapid HIV and HCV testing would be the most suitable for this purpose. Low threshold agencies, such as needle and syringe programs, would provide ideal premises for such a testing system, Here, participants would be able to undergo regular testing every six months. Making rapid testing widely available raises the following three main issues: 1. validity of the testing results (or: the verification of positive rapid test results), 2. circumstances of taking blood (or: legislation regarding drawing blood), and 3. cost effectiveness (or: how important is it to prevent an HIV epidemic). The authors propose the establishment of a system that offers screening using rapid tests and which would be an expansion of a currently existing system of HIV and HCV testing based on finger prick blood. The current system would thus serve as a means to verify the results of the rapid tests. At the same time, there is a need to obtain permission from a public health body to enable in needle and syringe programs the provision of rapid testing and testing of blood using finger pricks. In many countries, test results are given to injecting drug users not by doctors but by trained social workers - such a system could also be established in Hungary. If preventing an HIV epidemic in Hungary is a priority, then wide access to rapid HIV testing is justified. Widely accessible free and confidential rapid HIV and HCV testing and counseling - combined with screening and verification using finger prick blood - may function not only as a testing and counseling service but also as a good quality public health monitoring system. Such a system, however, requires regular financial support from the government.

[Social networks, risk dyads, and their role in the epidemiology and prevention of drug related infectious diseases]. / Szociális hálózatok, párkapcsolatok, és szerepük a kábítószerrel terjedo betegségek járványtanában és megelozésében.

In the case of risk behaviors where infection transmission occurs through social relationships (e.g. via sharing drugs and injecting equipment, or through sexual relations), prevention should follow (among others) the path of the social network. Previous studies have shown that sharing of injecting equipment is more likely to occur in larger and denser networks and that more popular individuals are more likely to engage in risk behaviors, become infected or transmit infection. Primary targets of social network interventions are central individuals, and information diffuses from them to the more peripheral members of the network. The most effective preventions are those where social network interventions targeting high-risk, central individuals are complemented by concurrent individual counseling and/or dyad interventions. Injecting drug users in Hungary would also benefit from such a multifaceted prevention approach aiming to reduce risky injecting behavior. This population needs prevention, in whatever form available, to prevent the deterioration of the current HCV and HIV epidemiological situation in Hungary and the development of an HIV epidemic that will eventually spread over to the general population.

[Epidemiology of hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus infections among injecting drug users in Hungary--what's next?]. / A hepatitis C-vírus és az emberi immunhiányt okozó vírus járványtana magyarországi injektáló kábítószer-használók körében - hogyan tovább?

The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) is currently about 35% among injecting drug users in Budapest, Hungary, and it is under 20% outside of the capital, and no verified case of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have been detected so far. Mathematical models describe that the co-occurrence of HIV and HCV among injecting drug users is such under an HCV prevalence of about 35% the probability of an HIV epidemic is low, but above this threshold an, HIV epidemic is to be expected. According to these models, there is a looming probability of an HIV epidemic among injecting drug users in Hungary, especially in Budapest. There are four ways to prevent or delay such an epidemic: 1. substitution treatment programs; 2. legal access to injecting equipment; 3. free and confidential HIV and HCV counseling and rapid testing; and 4. hygienic injecting environment. In order to avoid a predicted HIV epidemic, epidemiological pattern of HCV among injecting drug users in Hungary requires both a comprehensive prevention response and the systematic monitoring of the epidemiological situation. The success of the prevention programs depends on two factors: 1. wide access; and 2. regular financial support from the government.

HIV and selected blood-borne and sexually transmitted infections in a predominantly Roma (Gypsy) neighbourhood in Budapest, Hungary: a rapid assessment.

We assessed the prevalence of HIV and selected blood-borne and sexually transmitted infections among a convenience sample of 64 residents of Dzsumbuj, a predominantly Roma (Gypsy) neighbourhood in Budapest, Hungary. No cases of HIV were detected, while the prevalence of hepatitis B infection (anti-HBc) was 27% and syphilis prevalence was 2%. Romas (n = 50) were significantly more likely than non-Romas (n = 14) to have HAV antibodies (80% vs. 43%) and less likely to be HBV immunized (anti-HBs only; 6% vs. 29%). Current drug injectors (n = 13) were more likely than non-injectors (n = 51) to have antibodies against HAV (85% vs. 69%) and HCV (85% vs. 8%). While HIV has not been introduced in this population, risk conditions for a potentially explosive HIV epidemic are present. Health care policies should focus on expanding coverage for HAV and HBV immunizations, and access to HIV preventive services needs to be extended to marginalized, mostly minority populations, such as the Roma in Europe.