Knowledge and practices among injecting-drug users of bleach use for equipment disinfection--New York City, 1993.

Sharing (i.e., multiperson use) of drug-injection equipment among injecting-drug users (IDUs) is a major risk factor in the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other bloodborne pathogens. Abstaining from injection of drugs eliminates this risk; disinfection of needles and syringes with household bleach can reduce this risk. Because studies suggest the effectiveness of bleach disinfection may be limited, the March 1993 National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Community Alert Bulletin included recommendations that IDUs who do not stop injecting and sharing injection equipment use full-strength household bleach and keep the bleach in contact with the equipment for at least 30 seconds (1). To determine whether these new recommendations had been disseminated effectively to IDUs, the knowledge of bleach use for disinfection of drug-injection equipment among IDUs participating in a NIDA-sponsored New York City cohort study was assessed during August-December 1993. This report presents data about knowledge of bleach use for disinfection among persons who reported injecting drugs at least once during the 3-6 months preceding the interview.