Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Jun 22;15(6):e0235124. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235124. eCollection 2020.
We analyze a network of needle-sharing ties among 117 people who inject drugs (PWID) in rural Puerto Rico, using exponential random graph modeling to examine whether network members engage in partner restriction to lower their risk of contracting HIV or hepatitis C (HCV), or in informed altruism to prevent others from contracting these infections. Although sharing of used syringes is a significant risk factor for transmission of these diseases among PWID, we find limited evidence for partner restriction or informed altruism in the network of reported needle-sharing ties. We find however that sharing of needles is strongly reciprocal, and individuals with higher injection frequency are more likely to have injected with a used needle. Drawing on our ethnographic work, we discuss how the network structures we observe may relate to a decision-making rationale focused on avoiding withdrawal sickness, which leads to risk-taking behaviors in this poor, rural context where economic considerations often lead PWID to cooperate in the acquisition and use of drugs.
我们分析了波多黎各农村地区 117 名注射毒品者（PWID）之间的针具共享关系网络，使用指数随机图模型来检验网络成员是否通过限制性伴侣来降低感染艾滋病毒或丙型肝炎（HCV）的风险，或者通过知情利他主义来防止他人感染这些传染病。尽管共用使用过的注射器是 PWID 之间传播这些疾病的一个重要危险因素，但我们在报告的针具共享关系网络中发现了有限的限制性伴侣或知情利他主义的证据。然而，我们发现共享针具具有很强的互惠性，注射频率较高的个体更有可能使用过的针具进行注射。我们根据我们的民族志工作，讨论了我们观察到的网络结构可能与关注避免戒断症状的决策推理相关，这导致了在这种贫困的农村环境中冒险行为的发生，在这种情况下，经济考虑因素经常导致 PWID 合作获取和使用毒品。
