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Infections in the Injection Drug Abuser

  • Infectious Disease (J Glauser, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Emergency and Hospital Medicine Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Intravenous drug abuse (IVDA) represents a significant economic, social, and health burden to society and is one of the most dangerous ways to administer a drug, and medical management often falls on the shoulders of the emergency department provider. This review seeks to provide an update on the etiology, common infectious agents, and treatment modalities specific to IV drug abuse.

Recent Findings

IV drug use conveys serious health hazards and in particular cutaneous, soft tissue, and systemic infections. Illicit drug use carries with it social stigma, and patients may be reluctant to admit to using, so it is important to look for and recognize the clinical manifestations of drug use. Specific infectious agents may be related to individual batch preparation, inducing a local outbreak, and it is important to be on high alert for the sequela of IV drug abuse-related infection as early as possible.

Summary

Any needle-administered drug, including those given via intramuscular or subcutaneous routes, carries with it the risk of contamination, and both nutritional and immunologic status have an effect on the seeding and severity of infection.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Spine and Cancer Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Sarah Money

  2. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Boris Garber

Authors
  1. Sarah Money
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  2. Boris Garber
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah Money.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Infectious Disease

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Money, S., Garber, B. Infections in the Injection Drug Abuser. Curr Emerg Hosp Med Rep 6, 157–161 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40138-018-0169-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40138-018-0169-2

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