Sixty-one serologically positive HIV infected drug abusers admitted to the Drug Ward, General Hospital, Kota Bharu, were interviewed for possible risk behaviour and AIDS awareness. Fifty-eight subjects were IV abusers while the other 3 were non-IV abusers. All the IV abusers had shared injecting equipment with no regard for sterility. There was non-usage of condoms among those sexually active. ...

this study was done on 30 intravenous drug abusers who had underwent femoral artery ligation within 2 years (2007-2009) in imam reza hospital of kermanshah have been enrolled. variables such as age, gender, hiv test, claudication, wound infection, skin ulcer, recurrence of the pseudo aneurysm and the rate of amputation were evaluated. among 27 studied cases, 18.51% developed surgical site infec...

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of benzodiazepine (BZD) abuse among intravenous opioid users in Singapore. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eligibility criteria for inclusion in this study were all intravenous buprenorphine abusers, who presented to the Community Addictions Management Programme (CAMP) over a 1-year period from February 2005 to Janua...

BACKGROUND Isolated pulmonic valve endocarditis is a rare condition. The clinical and laboratory finding are not specific and experiences about that are limited. Most cases of that occur in children with congenital heart disease or in intravenous drug abusers and the main predisposing factor in adults is intravenous drug abuse. The most common pathogens are staphylococcus aurous and coagulase n...

Dear Editor, Embolisation of a fragmented injection needle to the heart is rare, even in intravenous drug abusers.1 The presence of an embolised needle fragment to the heart can serve as a nidus for infective endocarditis.2 We report a case of recurrent infective endocarditis secondary to needle embolisation to the heart. A 30-year-old Malay man with a history of intravenous drug abuse presente...

THIRTY-one patients with histologically diagnosed chronic active hepatitis were followed clinically, biochemically and histologically for a mean of 32.5 months. Nineteen patients were intravenous drug abusers. Eighteen patients showed histological improvement: of these 14 had hepatitis B virus (HBV) associated disease. Thirteen patients were unchanged or worse on repeat biopsy; 5 of these had H...

Five hundred and fifty six subjects, known to be homosexuals or intravenous drug abusers and seropositive for HIV antibody, were selected on the basis of their clinical state--symptom free, lymphadenopathy syndrome (LAS), AIDS related complex (ARC), and AIDS. The presence of antigenaemia and the humoral response to viral polypeptides was investigated. The prevalence of patients positive for p31...

During 1985 many drug abusers who lived in Edinburgh were found to be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). As a result an alternative counselling and screening clinic for testing for antibodies to HIV was established for use by drug abusers. Four hundred and forty one patients were counselled in the first year, and over 60% were either drug abusers or their sexual contacts. One...

Forty-six of 139 first visit patients who attended the Drug Advisory and Treatment Centre in the Charitable infirmary with a problem of intravenous drug abuse, between May 1st 1979 and December 31st 1979, had liver biopsies carried out. Eight of these patients had chronic active hepatitis; these and 4 other abusers with chronic active, hepatitis who were attending the Department of Gastroentero...

Drug addicts often seek medical help for pain. Numerous fears and beliefs may hinder the recognition, evaluation, and management of pain in addicts. Nevertheless, the same fundamental principles apply to these patients as to other patients in terms of pain evaluation, analgesic selection, and dosage adjustment. Clarity of the medical prescription is crucial. Specific points that require attenti...