Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

In the past 5 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the rates of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) in Manitoba. In 2021-2022, Manitoba reported the highest numbers of new HIV cases, and these more than tripled in 2023 compared to 2019. The male-to-female ratio of new HIV cases was similar, while the most common modes of HIV transmission were injection drug use and heterosexual sex. The drug of choice was methamphetamine, mainly injected. Additionally, people newly diagnosed with HIV in Manitoba were disproportionately experiencing houselessness, mental illness, and injection drug use (mostly methamphetamine). This pattern was more pronounced for females. Further, more females who use methamphetamine had a higher proportion of STBBI. Clinicians have also shared that they are increasingly observing unusual and very serious infections among people who use methamphetamine (such as heart infections called endocarditis and sexually transmitted infections) among people who use methamphetamine. For this reason, we want to understand if, in addition to social and structural barriers, methamphetamine plays a role in the vaginal microbiome (a group of microscopic living organisms, like bacteria, that live in the vagina and help to keep vagina healthy), which may explain, in part, the higher risk for transmission and spread of human immunodeficiency virus and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections among females in Manitoba. This proposal will investigate this unknown question. We will recruit female participants and follow them for 1 year, with follow-ups every 3 months. We will collect a sample from inside the vagina using a soft cotton stick to check for good and bad bacteria that may cause disease. We will use a computer-based method in the laboratory called sequencing to read the DNA code and identify the bacteria present when people use drugs like methamphetamine.