South Africa has seen HIV spread like wildfire at its gold mines, which attract young men from all over the country. They spend many an evening flush with cash, partying with friends and hiring sex workers. A similar pattern occurs in Myanmar at jade, ruby, and sapphire mines, with one added ingredient: heroin. This HIV-infected patient at the drug treatment center in Taunggyi worked at a nearby ruby mine, where he smoked heroin for a few years before he started to inject the drug. I asked why he switched. "My friends told me it would be a higher high," he said. |
