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Drug addicts, especially those practicing injection, are regarded as a major high-risk group for HIV infection. This study was performed to determine the burden of infection in 1061 drug addicts residing in the rehabilitational camp of Shiraz. In 1998, a survey in 1061 randomly selected drug abuse residing in the rehabilitational camp of Shiraz were performed in which demographic and other required data were collected using a questionnaire and samples from each subject were tested for anti-HIV by ELISA-II and then western blot. Overall, 0.76% of subjects were positive for anti-HIV detected by ELISA-II, 1.2% among intravenous and 0.33% among non-intravenous drug abusers, which, being several hundred times more than the prevalence in the general population. Points to the fact that drug addicts must be regarded very high-risk irrespective of their principle method of drug use. The high prevalence among non-intravenous addicts also may be indicative of the possibility that they have practiced high-risk injection sometimes during the period of addiction or imprisonment. Due to the low number of positive cases, no relation could be established between the age, duration and method of drug abuse, history of imprisonment, job, tattooing, marital status and HIV infection. Authors recommend widespread education of the community and drug abuser population in order to reduce the prevalence and spread of infection in addicts an the society, active case-finding among drug abusers, particularly before their referral to rehabilitational centers and developing control measures along with educational program to prevent the residents of these centers from access to drugs and practice of high-risk methods such as needle-sharing.

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Background and Objective: Risk factors of tuberculosis vary in communities according to different socioeconomic conditions. Knowing these risk factors help to control the disease. This study was done to determine the main risk factors of pulmonary tuberculosis acquisition in hospitalized patients. Materials and Methods: In this data based, case-control study 173 tuberculosis patients (as cases) and 305 non tuberculosis patients (as controls) hospitalized in Razi hospital in Ahvaz, Iran during 2001-07 were gone under investigation. Risk factors included injecting drug addiction, smoking, HIV infection, diabetes mellitus, imprisonment and corticosteroid usage. Data were analyzed using SPSS-13, Chi-Square and Fisher exact tests. Odds ratio was determined for risk factors. Results: Frequencies of the main risk factors in case and control groups were as: smoking 54.3%, 14.8% (p=0.0001, OR: 6.5), HIV infection 11.5%, 3% (p=0.0002, OR: 4.3), injecting drug addiction 18%, 3.3% (p=0.0001, OR: 6.7), diabetes mellitus 22.5%, 5.9% (p=0.0001, OR: 4.6) and imprisonment 20.2%, 3.9% (p=0.0001, OR: 6.2), respectively. Corticosteroid use and renal failure were similar in cases and controls. Conclusion: This study showed that smoking, HIV infection, injecting drug addiction, diabetes mellitus and imprisonment were the main risk factors for tuberculosis acquisition in this region.

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Background and Objective: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic is increasing word-wide. Tuberculosis is the main cause of death and low quality of life in HIV infected patients. The prevalence of Tuberculosis in HIV infected patients varies in different areas according to socioeconomic, cultural and geographical situation. This study was done to asses the pulmonary Tuberculosis risk factors in hospitalized HIV positive patients in Ahvaz, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this data based study all medical files of admitted HIV positive patients in Razi hospital in Ahvaz in south west of Iran were reviewed during 2001-09. Demographic characteristics and HIV Tuberculosis related variables were analyzed using SPSS-16, Fisher's exact test and Odds Ratio. Results: Out of 123 HIV cases 99 (80.5%) were injecting drug user (IDU), sixty eight (55.3%) had imprisoment history. Eighty one patients (65.8%) had Tuberculosis, in which 46 had co-morbidities such as infective endocarditis or viral hepatitis, 79 cases were IDU, 61 cases had imprisonment history and 24 cases had CD4 count below 200. There was a significant association between Tuberculosis and IDU, imprisonment and CD4 count (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that the rate of Tuberculosis in HIV positive patients is higher than the rate in previous studies performed in Iran. Also exposure to Tuberculosis cases in prison, IDU and low CD4+ T- lymphocyte count are the main risk factors for Tuberculosis acquisition.