Imtiaz Ahmad Dogar, Nighat Haider, Mirza Yasir Umer Baig, Usman Nisar, Istakhar Ali.
Safety profile of the practices of the substance dependent (including hiv positive) patients at model drug abuse treatment center, dhq hospital, faisalabad, pakistan.
J Pak Psych Soc Jan ;11(2):26-8.

Objective: This study was undertaken with an objective of collecting basic data to assess the extent of safety profile of the practices of drug abusers presenting to the Model Drug Abuse and Treatment Center, DHQ hospital, Faisalabad in order to study factors leading to increased risk of HIV spread. Study design: Cross sectional study Place and duration of study: The study was conducted in the Indoor Department of Model Drug Abuse Treatment Center of Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, DHQ Hospital, Faisalabad, Pakistan from Jan-2014 to March-2014. Method: 80 patients dependent on different drugs participated in this study through purposive convenient sampling technique. Personal, social, and demographic variables were recorded. The results were obtained by using SPSS 17. Results: Descriptive statistics show that 31 patients (38.8%) were HIV positive. Most of the patients were males (97.5 %), 80.1% of sample used heroin, 55% of the total sample used injectable drugs. Among these, 55% share needles among themselves. 33 patients (41.3 %) used the abused substance in groups. 19 patients (23.8 %) shared shaving blades. A similar number had undergone unscreened blood transfusion. 27 patients (28.3 %) had undergone surgery or tooth extraction. 46 patients (57.7 %) had pre marital or extra marital relations with commercial sex workers, 82.5% of the sample accepted unprotected sexual practices. Conclusion: Multiple sex partners, unprotected sexual practices with commercial sex workers, needle sharing, sharing of shaving blades, and instruments of surgery and tooth extraction are the common unsafe practices of the HIV positive drug abusers in our study population.

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