HIV Seroconversion and Disinfection of Injection Equipment among Intravenous Drug Users, Baltimore, Maryland

To examine the putative protective effect of disinfectant use on HIV seroconversion among intravenous drug users, we conducted a nested case-control study comparing 22 black heterosexual HIV seroconverters with 95 persistent seronegatives matched on gender, use of cocaine, date of study entry, and duration of follow-up. For intravenous drug users who reported using disinfectant all the time, the odds of seroconversion was 0.77 (95% CI: 0.25–2.38) compared with those who reported no use of disinfectants; for those who used disinfectants some of the time, the corresponding odds ratio was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.26–3.31). The odds ratio for use of disinfectant all the time was 0.63 (95% CI: 0.10–3.91) for those injecting at galleries and 1.08 (95% CI: 0.35–3.11) for those not injecting at galleries. These data suggest a limited protective effect of disinfectant use in the field which may be more beneficial to those injecting in shooting galleries.