HIV prevalence, sociodemographic, and behavioral correlates and recruitment methods among injection drug users in St. Petersburg, Russia

The combination of political, economic, and social changes that accompanied the fall of the Soviet Union has resulted in a dramatic epidemic of drug abuse in Russia, which has led to an epidemic of HIV-1, driven by injection drug use. The estimated HIV prevalence of 30% places St. Petersburg among the worst injection drug users concentrated epidemics in Europe.