title: Individual level injection history: a lack of association with HIV incidence in rural Zimbabwe.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has recently been argued that unsafe medical injections are a major transmission route of HIV infection in the generalised epidemics of sub-Saharan Africa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We have analysed the pattern of injections in relation to HIV incidence in a population cohort in Manicaland in a rural area of Zimbabwe. In Poisson regression models, injections were not found to be associated with HIV in males (rate ratio = 0.33; 95% confidence interval: 0.07 to 1.46) or females (rate ratio = 1.04; 95% confidence interval: 0.59 to 1.85).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is important that unsafe medical injections can be confidently excluded as a major source of HIV infection. In rural Zimbabwe the evidence is that they can.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom. b.lopman@imperial.ac.uk
authors.forename: Ben A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Lopman
authors.forename: Geoff P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Garnett
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gregson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007267:Injections / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D015030:Zimbabwe / Q000453:epidemiology
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