Posts
Researchers at Indiana University
(IU) School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute investigated the relationship
between individuals released from the justice system and sexually transmitted
infections (STIs), using existing justice system and public health data. The
researchers presented the findings at the STI & AIDS World Congress in
Vienna, Austria, July 14–17.
Sarah E. Wiehe, MD, associate
professor of pediatrics at IU School of Medicine and an affiliated scientist at
the Regenstrief Institute, and colleagues worked with Indiana’s Marion County
Court, the Marion County Health Department, the Indianapolis Metropolitan
Police Department, and the Indiana Department of Corrections. The researchers
tracked 260,000 youths and adults who had been involved with the justice system
for arrest, jail, juvenile detention, and juvenile or adult prison from 2000 to
2008.
According to Wiehe, of the
individuals who tested positive for STIs from 2000–2008, 16 percent contracted
the infection during the first year of release from the justice system. Wiehe
noted the risk was especially high for those released from the juvenile system.
Wiehe posited that the one-year period after release from the justice system
provided a great opportunity to reduce STI rates and that moderately successful
efforts to reduce post-incarceration STI and STI risk could have positive
effects on the community STI burden.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus.
To learn more about The Friends of
AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
