To the Editor: Infections are the most frequent and serious wound complications in injection drug users (IDUs). Wound botulism is primarily caused by Clostridium botulinum (1) and was fi rst observed in IDUs in New York in 1982 (2). It results from the introduction of C. botulinum spores into a wound and their multiplication, germination, in situ synthesis, and secretion of toxin under anaerobi...

Thailand has traditionally pursued an aggressive enforcement-based anti-illicit drug policy in an effort to make the country "drug-free." In light of this ongoing approach, we sought to assess impacts of enforcement on drug use behaviors among a cohort of injection drug users (IDU) in Thailand. We examined drug use patterns among IDU participating in a cross-sectional study conducted in Bangkok...

Many articles support the effectiveness of methadone treatment as an HIV prevention intervention for heroin users. The studies show that methadone treatment reduces needle use, sharing and number of sex partners. The studies also show that treatment increases use of condoms. Rather than summarizing each article, this document provides several citations to help users begin to access the literatu...

Paenibacillus larvae causes American foulbrood in honey bees. We describe P. larvae bacteremia in 5 injection drug users who had self-injected honey-prepared methadone proven to contain P. larvae spores. That such preparations may be contaminated with spores of this organism is not well known among pharmacists, physicians, and addicts.

Injection drug users (IDUs) in San Juan, Puerto Rico are characterized by high rates of daily injecting, injection of shared drugs, re-use of injection syringes, and use of shooting galleries. They lack adequate access to new injection syringes and drug preparation equipment, and experience elevated rates of HIV and HCV infection. Between April and August, 2006, researchers and active IDUs coll...

We studied cases of necrotizing fasciitis among injection drug users (IDUs) and non-IDUs who presented at the University of California Davis Medical Center from 1984 through 1999. Of 107 patients, 59 (55%) were IDUs and 48 (45%) non-IDUs. Among IDUs, 32 (54%) recently injected at the site of infection, and 17 patients (29%) presented with an abscess. Among non-IDUs, 17 (35%) reported a recent i...

Introduction: To investigate the evaluation pattern of Traditional Chinese medicine injection, establish the drug use evaluation(DUE) standards of shenmai injection, and implement of DUE programs of shenmai injection in the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College. Methods: Three hundred and thirty four patients were included in this retrospective analysis. The study duration was div...