Women who use drugs risk becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The virus can be spread through needles used to inject drugs. Therefore, women who inject drugs and share needles are especially at risk.
The AIDS virus is also spread through sexual contact. Women who have sex with men who inject drugs are at great risk. Between 1990 and 1991, AIDS cases among women rose 17 percent. Today, almost 70 percent of AIDS cases in women are related to either injecting drugs or having sex with a man who injects drugs.
AIDS is now the fourth leading cause of death among women.