Data on injecting anabolic steroid users, within the national Unlinked
Anonymous HIV
Prevalence Monitoring Survey of injecting drug users (IDUs) were analysed
to determine their
risk of acquiring blood borne viruses. One hundred and forty-nine participants
who had
injected anabolic steroids in the previous month were identified from 1991–6,
contributing
1·4% of all participation episodes in the survey. Rates
of needle and syringe sharing by steroid
users were low. Three of the 149 (2·0%) had anti-HBc and
none had anti-HIV in their salivary
specimens. The prevalence of anti-HBc in steroid injectors was significantly
lower than in
heroin injectors, 275/1509 (18%) (P<0·001), or in
amphetamine injectors,
28/239 (12%) (P<0·001). The risk of blood borne virus
transmission
amongst these steroid injectors is low,
probably due to hygienic use of injecting equipment and low levels of sharing.
It is important
to distinguish steroid injectors from other IDUs because they are a distinct
group in terms of
lifestyle and injecting practice.