RT Journal
A1 Schleifer SJ, Keller SE, Lombardo JM, Franklin JE, LaFarge S, Miller SI
T1 HIv-1 antibody reactivity in inner-city alcoholics
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1989
FD November 17
VO 262
IS 19
SP 2680
OP 2681
DO 10.1001/jama.1989.03430190060017
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1989.03430190060017
AB To the Editor.— 
    Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in substance abusers is a major public health concern, with intravenous (IV) drug users in urban centers such as New York, NY,1 and Newark, NJ,2,3 having an estimated prevalence of HIV seropositivity of 50% to 60%. Alcohol abusers, especially in inner-city areas, represent a large secondary at-risk population owing to geographic and social proximity to the primary high-risk groups, compounded by their being less likely than nonabusers to use safe-sex practices. The prevalence of antibody to HIV type 1 in alcoholics who deny the use of other substances has not, to our knowledge, been described.We conducted an anonymous screening for HIV type 1 antibody on discarded samples from routine blood analyses of 99 patients in an inner-city alcohol treatment center. Sixty-eight percent of samples were from patients reporting alcohol use exclusively and 27% were from those with an additional