Infective endocarditis is a serious complication of intravenous (IV) drug abuse, with a reported mortality of 5 to 10%. A 21-year-old man, who was an intravenous drug abuser, presented with fever and dyspnea. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a highly mobile, large vegetation on the anterior leaflet of the tricuspid valve. Despite antibiotic therapy for ten days, the patient remained febril...

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...

A 43 year old intravenous drug abuser presented to the accident and emergency department with a three week history of bilateral visual loss and frontal headaches. Fundoscopy revealed bilateral retinal cotton wool spots and haemorrhages and an ophthalmic opinion was requested. His blood pressure was subsequently found to be 210/140. A diagnosis of malignant hypertension was made and blood pressu...

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES The Clinical Case of the Month is a regular educational feature presented by the Louisiana State University Department of Medicine in New Orleans. Medical students, residents, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty collaborate in the preparation of these discussions. After reading this article, physicians should be able to identify and understand the pathophysiology, clinical ...

BACKGROUND: This paper examines the differences in demographics, drug use patterns and self reported risk behaviours between regular injecting drug users (IDU) who report engaging in sex work for money or drugs and regular injecting drug users who do not. METHODS: Cross sectional data collected from regular IDU interviewed as part of the New South Wales (NSW) Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS...

The HIV epidemic in Manipur, the highest HIV prevalence state of India, is primarily driven by injecting drug use. Reliable estimate of population size of injecting drug users (IDU) is critical for aiding HIV prevention program in the state to combat drug driven HIV epidemic. The study described multiplier method, an indirect technique of estimation of IDU size in five districts of Manipur, Ind...

The HIV/AIDS epidemic among injection drug users (IDUs) in Brazil has been unique in terms of temporal and geographical contrasts. This analysis explores these contrasts through the use of multilevel modeling. Standardized AIDS incidence rates among IDUs for Brazilian municipalities (1986-2000) were used as the dependent variable, with a set of social indicators as independent variables (covari...

Infective endocarditis is a serious disease associated with high mortality. Patients surviving recurrent bouts of infective endocarditis are reported infrequently. We report on a non-drug abuser patient who experienced seven episodes of infective endocarditis--the largest number reported to our knowledge in a single non-drug abuser patient.