Individual level injection history: a lack of association with HIV incidence in rural Zimbabwe
Lopman, B.A.; Garnett, G.P.; Mason, P.R.; Gregson, S.
Plos Medicine 2(2): E37
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 1549-1277 PMID: 15736994 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0020037Document Number: 257154
It has recently been argued that unsafe medical injections are a major transmission route of HIV infection in the generalised epidemics of sub-Saharan Africa. We have analysed the pattern of injections in relation to HIV incidence in a population cohort in Manicaland in a rural area of Zimbabwe. In Poisson regression models, injections were not found to be associated with HIV in males (rate ratio = 0.33; 95% confidence interval: 0.07 to 1.46) or females (rate ratio = 1.04; 95% confidence interval: 0.59 to 1.85). It is important that unsafe medical injections can be confidently excluded as a major source of HIV infection. In rural Zimbabwe the evidence is that they can.