To investigate disease development, the researchers focused on the 130 participants who, at the start of the study, had more than 200 CD4 cells per microliter (μL) of blood. There were no significant differences in viral load associated with use of powdered cocaine, marijuana, or alcohol. When the data were analyzed, they showed an association between crack cocaine use and more plentiful virus in users' blood that was independent of their degree of antiretroviral adherence. At each visit, the participants were designated as crack cocaine users or nonusers, depending on whether they reported taking the drug at any time during the previous 6 months. Each month, the participants reported on their drug and medication use, and they gave blood samples every 6 months to be assayed for levels of the virus and of the immune cell, CD4, that the virus primarily attacks. Marianna Baum and colleagues at Florida International University followed 222 HIV-positive drug abusers in Miami for 30 months. In the other, cocaine and methamphetamine increased both the ease with which the HIV virus entered immune cells in laboratory cultures and its replication rate once inside the cells. One found that crack cocaine users who are infected with HIV experience an accelerated decline in immune function that is independent of their adherence to therapy. They progress to disability and death more rapidly because diagnosis and treatment are often delayed and their lifestyle and circumstances limit their ability to adhere to demanding antiretroviral medication regimens.Īnd that's not all, according to two recent studies by NIDA-funded investigators.

They have an extremely high prevalence of infection because the virus transmits easily via shared drug-injection equipment and through drug-influenced risky sexual behavior. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) inflicts disproportionate suffering on drug abusers.

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