HIV EPIDEMIC AMONG DRUG USERS AT 'SATURATION'

Canadian health officials said Wednesday that while an HIV outbreak among
drug addicts in Vancouver appears to have peaked, it still holds a great
deal of potential danger. Research shows that the use of dirty, infected
needles throughout the poverty-ridden area near the center of the city has
led to a higher concentration of the virus--a situation which Martin
Schechter, who heads the study, called the "saturation effect." Schechter's
study, known as the Vancouver Injection Drug Use Study, found that levels
of new infection fell 5 percent toward the end of last year and the
beginning of this year, from an 18 percent infection rate recorded in
mid-1997. However, most health officials agree that the crisis is far from
over, as cheap housing and a surfeit of drugs continues to draw people to
the area.