Drug and Sex Risk Networks Among Latino Migrant Workers in Post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Background:  There are 8 million undocumented Latino workers in the United States, many arriving without  families or primary sex partners, placing them at higher risk for sex and drug use. 

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to describe the prevalence of selected STIs and the configuration of sexual networks among Latino workers migrating to a city that has high rates of STIs and drug use.  

Methods:   The cohort (n=150) was originally assembled using respondent driven sampling.  A 2-wave snowball sample was conducted on 37 of these respondents, who were interviewed to identify sex and drug sharing partners (alters) and pictorially describe the sex and drugs relationships between them. Respondents were then given coupons to refer their alters for interview/testing. The second wave of new respondents were  asked to do the same.  Matching of egos and alters permits analysis of extended social network structure and comparison with RDS.

Results:   Seed egos (n=37) and referred egos (n=43) named 290 alters.  Of the 80 egos, 81.3% were men and 18.8% were women, 68.8% were Honduran, 10.0% Mexican, 7.5% US and 13.8% other.  Mean age was 31 years (s.d. 7.2) and 86.7% could understand only some to no English and 41.2% were drug users (3 were IDUs).  Egos named an average of 2.0 (s.d. 1.5) sex and 1.5 (s.d. 3.1) drug partners.  Consistent condom use with sex workers was 61%.  There were no cases of HIV, chlamydia, or gonorrhea and 1 case of confirmed secondary syphilis. Preliminary network visualization suggests the presence of core structure.

Conclusions:    These preliminary data indicate an HIV/STI transmission network conducive of spread.  The high rates of condom use with sex workers may be an important protective factor.

Implications for Programs, Policy, and Research:  Understanding the networks of populations can identify core groups that may be targeted for intervention.