71.   Some European countries such as Germany and Switzerland provide sites where drug addicts can inject drugs under supervision to reduce the risk of infection.

72.   The main method of transmission in the former Soviet Union is through injecting drugs.

73.   The problem occurs when the drug is injected into muscle, rather than a vein because the acid burns and kills muscle tissue.

74.   The study also suggested that a new generation of heroin users may prefer injecting the drug to snorting it, exposing themselves to a broad range of bloodborne diseases.

75.   Two minutes later, the final drug had been injected.

76.   Those who do risky things, such as inject drugs, are discouraged from giving.

77.   Because patients can inject the drug themselves, health care costs are lower than if they stay in hospital.

78.   But increasingly, heroin users are injecting the drug, increasing both the risk of addiction and infection from dirty needles.

79.   These countries also reported transmission through people injecting drugs, but this is not a common practice elsewhere in the region, it added.