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Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 2002, 04, 3 (pages: 33 - 44)

Methadone maintenance and HIV infection

Pacini M., Maremmani I.

Summary: Methadone therapy is widely ascertained to be the most effective treatment for opioid addiction. Its spreading was promptly followed by a dwindling spreading rates of HIV among heroin addicts. Non only among directly treated patients a clear benefit emerged, but also among non addicts sharing the same environment. The positive impact of methadone upon additive behaviours is to be read mainly as the reduction of the likelihood of seroconversion. Retention in treatment is the most reliable predictor for the lowered likelihood of seroconversion to be maintained through time. The administration of methadone, even in those cases for which stabilization has not been achieved, or for those subjects who do not comply to methadone maintenance programmes, is still an effective in a harm reduction perspective, as far as it keeps infective risk lower than expected.