Miami CARES (Miami Community AIDS Research and Evaluation Studies)

In an effort to reduce risk behaviors among injection drug users, crack cocaine smokers, and sex partners, the Miami CARES prevention/intervention program began operation in March 1988.  Miami CARES has collected baseline data on over 10,000 high-risk drug users and more than 8,000 follow-up assessments. The research group of the CDRC has contributed greatly to the study of risk assessment and interventions for drug users at risk for HIV. 

Interdisciplinary studies which combine field and laboratory based methodologies have resulted in groundbreaking work.  Included in this body of work is the first study of the prevalence of antibodies to HIV in needles/syringe units collected from shooting galleries, the first studies to determine the efficacy of bleach in disinfecting needle/syringe units, the first studies to determine precise estimates of the optimal dilution of bleach and exposure time required to inactivate HIV under laboratory and field conditions, and the study of bleach utilization among street recruited intravenous drug users.  In addition, interdisciplinary studies using quantitative and qualitative methods were among the first to associate high risk drug use and sex behaviors with HIV among drug users.