Introduction Opioid use disorder (OUD) can lead to injection drug use, which is an important risk factor for blood-borne viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV), among other infections. Indeed, the burden of blood-borne viruses among people who…
Introduction All societies that have had access to psychoactive drugs have used them. There are multiple positive aspects of psychoactive drug use, from creating positive mood states, to stress and pain relief, to increasing social bonding, to simple preservation of…
HIV prevention in people who inject drugs According to the CDC, 9% of incident HIV cases in the United States are directly attributable to injection drug use [ ]. Among people who inject drugs (PWID), the risk for HIV and…
Introduction Infections are a common cause of hospitalization for patients with opioid use disorders (OUDs). In 2012, there were 530,000 OUD-related hospitalizations with a total estimated healthcare cost of $15 billion [ ], approximately 6.500 of those admissions were related…
Infectious disease (ID) physicians have long treated the common complications of opioid use disorder (OUD) and injection drug use. Such complications encountered in patients with OUD include HIV, viral hepatitis (HBV, HCV), tuberculosis, skin and soft tissue infections (cellulitis, abscesses,…
Opioid use disorder and endocarditis The increasing use of opioids over the past decade has resulted in a crisis of overdose and death in the United States that has also been accompanied by an increase in infectious complications related to…
Introduction Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection affects over 240 million individuals worldwide [ ]. Detection of the disease is dependent on active surveillance and testing by healthcare providers. Due to the high risk of transmission, the Center for Disease…
Introduction Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has a significant impact on the healthcare system in the United States and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the number of deaths associated with HCV has surpassed the combined deaths…
Injection drug use is an important HIV risk factor Transmission among People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) early in the HIV epidemic Soon after the identification of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), it became clear that injection drug use was a…
Background on criminal justice in the United States In the United States, the rate of incarceration has skyrocketed over the last 50 years, ignited by the “Tough on Crime” as well as the “War on Drugs” political pushes of the…