Cause for alarm

A version of this document has been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal as The Future Face of Co- Infection: Prevalence and Incidence of HIV and Hepatitis C Co-infection Among Young Injection Drug Users. [...] ABSTRACT Objectives To determine the prevalence and incidence of HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) co-infection among young (age 29 and under) injection drug users (IDUs) and to compare socio-demographic and risk character- istics between co-infected (HIV/HCV), mono-infected and HIV and HCV negative youth. [...] Given the evidence suggesting higher mor- bidity and mortality among co-infected individuals, there is an urgent need to document the incidence and prevalence of co-infection in order to understand the magnitude of the epidemic and to charac- terize target populations for intervention programs and future treatment strategies. [...] We undertook the current study to estimate the prevalence of co-infection, to estimate the time to HIV and HCV co-infection among young IDUs aged 29 and under, and to characterize socio-demographic characteristics and risk factors for co-infection. [...] The median age of the seroconverters was 24 and they had been injecting for a median of 3 years; 25 (55%) were female and 20 (45%) were of Aboriginal ancestry.