Finally I want to highlight the danger of associating drug use with HIV transmission. In the first mentioned JAIDS study, all of the cocaine using participants were undetectable. Furthermore I find the evidence of cocaine being the main driver for the significant difference in LHR to be weak at best

For example, do non-psychoactive non-illicit chemicals have similar interactions with HIV immunology which we will never discover?
Do 'socially accepted' stimulants (with similar structures) like those prescribed for ADHD and narcolepsy face the same studies?

To what extent can scientific research detach itself from societies stigma? I am curious if meth and cocaine were chosen for the cell studies due to the history of HIV incidence in drug users + the negative social capital associated with illicit drugs

Now, I don't want to stigmatise substance use in PLWH (or anyone for that matter) as it is ubiquitous, fun and abstinence does not work. Rather, I want to pose some questions that came up from this.

But, in the paper, and its citations [45-47] there is proven interactions between cocaine and HIV, proven in vivo and in vitro.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23251514/
www.nature.com/articles/sre...

And literature suggesting the same for Meth
cellandbioscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

In my training, drugs were always been linked to HIV/STIs through a social epidemiological lens. Chemsex, social status and the systemic marginalisation of illicit drug users tend to come to mind as the primary connection between the two.

So here is a thread of me yapping about this mornings readings and reflections.

Private insurers labelling random people as living with HIV is appalling. Using HIV, Hepatitis C and other infections to fraud people for greater profits is absurd.

thank you! Yaaay 🫶