Intravenous drug abusers commonly develop endocarditis due to injection of particulate matter that can cause endothelial damage to the valves. The frequent need to access the venous system can result in vascular traumas with potential complications including arteriovenous (AV) fistulas. Here, we present the case of an intravenous drug abuser with endocarditis and an unusually large AV fistula i...

To ensure all drug users can benefit from TB and HIV prevention, treatment support and care — including those in prison — WHO, UNAIDS and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime have developed Policy guidelines for collaborative TB and HIV services for injecting and other drug users an integrated approach. The measures* aim to break down the barriers that stand in the way of better health, outline key...

This paper examines variations in suicide in the eight Health Boards of the Republic of Ireland for the years 1976 to 1995. It is found that while all have experienced a rise in male suicide, it has been much less pronounced in the Eastern Health Board which is somewhat surprising when one considers Dublin's much-publicised problems with homelessness and hard drug misuse. Since the mid-eighties...

The war on drugs will never be won, just as the war on cancer and the war on poverty will never be won; but what folly to fail to identify achievable goals, measures of progress, and strategy of action in the ongoing war. In each of these unwinnable wars great benefit (to both personal and public health) may be accrued from fighting on the right fronts. The challenge for the strategist is to di...

This study repeated a Scotland-wide survey of one-in-four GPs from 2000, to compare findings with 2008. A 60% response was achieved (of 1065). Almost 44% of GPs were treating drug misusers (62% in 2000). Enhanced services were provided by less than half of practices. Seven per cent of responders were only comfortable prescribing below the recommended minimum dose of 60 mg methadone, (33% in 200...

The paper develops key notions needed for a feminist embodiment approach to drugs, their use and users. First, the term embodied deviance is defined in relationship to women drug users. Second, the bodily tasks of gendered drug use are defined to show how "normal" embodiment is foreclosed to women drug users. Third, disease regimes and epistemologies of ignorance are introduced. Fourth, another...

AIM The aim of the study was to understand the prevalence and patterns of the non-medical injecting use of buprenorphine among drug injectors in Georgia. METHOD A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among injecting drug users enrolled in Georgian needle exchange programmes. The questions covered topics related to drug use career, patterns (frequency, history, dosage) and reasons f...

Safe and effective HIV prevention strategies are needed for transwomen. Transwomen in the US have a 34 times greater odds of being infected with HIV than all adults age 15-49, and in San Francisco, California 42.4% of transwomen are estimated to be infected with HIV. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is the first biomedical intervention with promise for reducing HIV acquisition in transwomen. How...