Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
Objective
Understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic and associated mitigation strategies subsequently changed the trajectory of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission is critical to estimating disease burdens, identifying outbreak risk, and developing informed intervention strategies.
Findings/Key points
Analyses of ALIVE data showed that during the pandemic, there was an acceleration in injection cessation trajectories overall, but those who continued injecting increased the frequency of injection; at the same time, individual drug-use networks became smaller and the probability of injecting with others decreased. Simulation results demonstrated that HCV and HIV prevalence increased from service disruptions alone, but these effects were mitigated when including observed behavior changes in addition.
Design/methods
Using behavioral data from the AIDS Linked to the IntraVenous Experience (ALIVE) study, an ongoing community-based cohort of people who inject drugs (PWID) in Baltimore, United States, and an individual-based network model, we explored the impacts of service disruptions combined with changes in social networks and injecting behaviors of PWID on HCV and HIV transmission.
