Needle sharing may play role in syphilis transmission
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 - 15:31
in Health & Medicine
A binational team of researchers led by the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has discovered that active syphilis infections are significantly greater in female sex workers who inject drugs and share needles than in those who don't. The findings suggest that injection drug use may play as big a role as risky sexual behavior in the transmission of syphilis. It may also exacerbate the spread of both HIV and syphilis, as syphilis is frequently a co-factor for HIV infection.