Comparative study on risk of HIV, HCV and syphilis infection between club drug users and traditional drug users in Wenzhou, Zhejiang

Objective To compare the risks for HIV infection, HCV infection and syphilis between club drug users and traditional drug users, and provide evidence for the further improvement of behavioral intervention among drug users in Wenzhou city of Zhejiang province. Methods A total of 4102 drug users in Wenzhou were surveyed with questionnaires for national HIV sentinel surveillance during 2010-2014, and blood samples were collected from them to detect HIV, HCV and syphilis antibodies. Results In the drug users surveyed, club drug users accounted for 49.41% and traditional drug users accounted for 47.46%, some of them were both club drug users and traditional drug users. The proportion of club drug users increased during 2010-2014. In club drug users, injecting drug users accounted for 11.69%, lower than that in traditional drug users (P0.0001), and in these injecting drug users, those sharing needles with others accounted for 22.78%, compared with traditional drug users, the difference had no statistical significance (P0.05). In the past year, the club drug users who had commercial sex accounted for 31.77%, higher than that in traditional drug users (P0.0001). The condom use rates at each sex in both club drug users and traditional drug users were all about 14.00%. The HIV positive rate in club drug users was 0.20%, the difference was not significant compared with traditional drug users (P0.05). HCV and syphilis positive rates in club drug users were 28.61% and 8.58%. The former was lower than that in traditional drug users (P0.05), the latter was higher than that in traditional drug users (P0.0001). Conclusion The risks of both the blood borne transmission and sexual transmission of AIDS and other diseases existed in club drug users. It is necessary to develop targeted intervention measures for club drug users.