Public health department tracking of high-risk drug users.

The Multnomah County (OR) Health Department received a National Institute on Drug Abuse grant to develop effective interventions and education to reduce the spread among injecting drug users of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. One year into the project, new approaches were developed to locate the drug users for followup interviews. County data bases were accessed and arrangements were made to conduct interviews in jails and prisons. Similar techniques were employed to locate tuberculosis patients with positive results.