title: Mapping U.S. long-haul truck drivers' multiplex networks and risk topography in inner-city neighborhoods.
abstract: This article illustrates how urban inner-city trucking milieux may influence STI/BBI/HIV acquisition and transmission risks for U.S. long-haul truckers, as well as their social and risk relationships. Using mixed methods, we collected ethnoepidemiological and biological data from long-haul truck drivers and their risk contacts in inner-city trucking milieux in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Key findings indicate that within the risk-endemic environment of distressed inner-city areas, diverse trucking risk milieux can amplify STI/BBI/HIV risk for multiplex networks of truckers. Inner-city neighborhood location, short geographic distance among risk contacts, and trucker concurrency can potentially exacerbate transmission via bridging higher-risk individuals with lower-risk populations at disparate geographic and epidemiological locations.
authors: Texas A&M University, 4243 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA; Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
authors: Yorghos
authors: Y
authors: Apostolopoulos
authors: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27402, USA.
authors: Sevil
authors: S
authors: Sönmez
authors: Texas A&M University, 4243 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA. Electronic address: michael.lemke@hlkn.tamu.edu.
authors: Michael Kenneth
authors: MK
authors: Lemke
authors: Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA.
authors: Richard B
authors: RB
authors: Rothenberg
mesh_terms: D017144:Focus Groups; D062306:Geography, Medical; D005845:Georgia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000600:supply & distribution; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012309:Risk-Taking; D060386:Sex Workers / Q000523:psychology; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D012944:Social Support; D047568:Unsafe Sex; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs
keywords: Drugs; Geography of risk; Long-haul truck drivers; Networks; STIs