Bellis (public administration, California State U.-San Bernardino) presents the results of his research on HIV and AIDS transmission in this comparative study of female street prostitutes in San Bernadino, California and several Mexican cities. He concludes that the effects of US drug and prostituti

This unique book draws on nearly two hundred face-to-face interviews that the author conducted on the streets with heroin-addicted street prostitutes in Southern California and their counterparts in four large Mexican cities. It illustrates the significant—and surprising—differences in the risk of exposure to HIV and other STDs that exist between street prostitutes in the two countries; differences arising from the legality, sociology, and economics of sex work in each country. Helpful tables and an appendix containing the author's survey questions make the data in this well-referenced book easily understandable.