Substances detected in used syringes of injecting drug users in Tunisia. The EU Neighbouring Policy area ESCAPE project
Background and aims:
Injecting drugs has an implication for public health due to associated risky practices such as sharing or re-using syringes and needles, and sexual behaviour causing an increased risk of bloodborne viral transmissions. Limited information available in Tunisia on injecting drugs to inform health-related and harm reduction policy responses.
Methods:
The collection campaign of used syringes was carried out in Tunis. The time period of sample collection was in November 2022. Used syringes were provided by the Tunisian Association for Information and Orientation on Aids and Addiction “ATIOST” (harm-reduction service). Clean syringes provided to people who inject drugs (PWID) for the purpose of implementing mobile syringe exchange program. The aim of the study is to analyse the content of used syringes to find out more about drug use among PWID. The residual content of used syringes was analysed by an ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), following the generic protocol established by European Syringe Collection and Analysis Project Enterprise (ESCAPE).
Results:
A total of 261 syringes from 5 different collection sites were analysed. The analysis shows a high proportion of syringes (87%) containing at least one psychoactive substance, and 32% contained more than two psychoactive substances. The most detected psychoactive substances were buprenorphine, amphetamine and tramadol, respectively in 50.28 %, 11.65 % and 9.66 % of the syringes containing at least one psychoactive substance. No residual content was detected in 34 syringes.
Conclusion:
The method can provide rapid data on patterns of drug use over specific periods of time and in well-defined geographic zones. Such analysis highlighted differences in drug use trends consisting of a comparative case study in the countries of the European Neighbouring Policy area (ENP-South) and thus help to adapt prevention and harm reduction responses.
