Injecting Drug Users, who are one of the highest at risk of HIV/AIDS infection, also indulge in multiple sexual relationships thus exposing themselves and their partners to the threat of the deadly disease, a survey has claimed.

These are the findings of a survey conducted by Population Council, an NGO, that showed that very few IDUs have been tested for HIV infection in Delhi and Imphal.

The survey, conducted among 800 current IDUs in each city, of which majority were men, showed that among sexually active male IDUs, multiple partnerships were common.

Thirty-eight per cent of sexually active male IDUs in Delhi had two to five female sex partners and slightly over 10 per cent had more than six female partners, it said.

Although multiple partnerships were less common in Imphal, 21 per cent of sexually active males reported having had sex with at least two women.

Among male IDUs, who had more than one partner in the last 12 months (Delhi 196) and (Imphal 116), a substantial per centage of 36 per cent in Delhi and 24 per cent in Imphal had concurrent partnerships, which is defined as sexual relationships that overlapped in time, the report said.

Nearly half of the concurrent relationships in Delhi (46 per cent) and a third in Imphal (33 per cent) had not used condoms, it said.

The study said sexual mixing patterns can speed HIV and sexually transmitted diseases beyond this high-risk group.

It is evident in both cities that the majority of the male IDUs sex partners were non-injecting partners, which has major implications for the spread of HIV, it said.

The report said that five per cent of male IDUs in Delhi and 12 per cent in Imphal, who had two or more partners, reported having at least one non-regular or commercial woman partner in addition to a regular woman partner.

Around seven per cent of IDUs also engaged in sex with both men and women in Delhi.

The council selected the two cities -- one low (Delhi) and another high prevalence state, to compare differences in their social and behavioural characteristics influencing the HIV epidemic.

"Living conditions and sexual risk behaviour are shaping the HIV epidemic in the two cities," it said.

More than a quarter of the IDUs in Delhi (26 per cent) had not heard of HIV/AIDS and only 37 per cent of them had been tested for HIV infection, while in Imphal 98 per cent have heard of the dreaded disease and 49 per cent had undergone testing.

"We require a varied approach in addressing HIV-prevention among them. There is need to reach the unstable and homeless IDUs of Delhi and to retain them within targeted intervention programmes," it summed.

Focusing on prevention programmes, the study emphasised facilitating HIV testing for this population as they are also vulnerable to catch Hepatitis B and C infections, which impact the outcome of HIV infection.

The study also said in Delhi IDUs primarily inject pharmaceutical agents such as buprenorphine (93 per cent), tranquilisers (83 per cent) and antihistamines and sedatives (91 per cent), while IDUs in Imphal primarily injected heroin (79 per cent).

In Delhi, IDUs used multiple injections per day, as compared to those in Imphal, the report added.