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…
Acknowledgements Dr. Akhtar is supported in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse award number 2UG3DA044826. Dr. Feinberg is supported in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse award number 2UG3DA044825 and the National Institute of General Medical…
Background The syndemic of injection drug use (IDU) and HIV infection has been well recognized since the origin of the HIV epidemic. Although transmission in persons who inject drugs (PWID) was documented in 1977 [ ], phylogenetic analysis suggests that…
Acknowledgments I gratefully acknowledge research funding from the US National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Drug Abuse Grant DA037820. I thank Dr. Sarah Mars for extensive feedback and Dr. Jay Unick for creating Fig. 1.1 . Introduction The opioid overdose…
Abstract Influenza is a disease that represents an important public health concern. The ability of influenza viruses to undergo genetic mutations and become the cause of global epidemics (pandemics) has been a constant worry to public health experts. Over the…
Abstract Unlike the coronaviruses causing severe acute respiratory syndromes, namely SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 (the cause of Coronavirus Disease-2019 [COVID 19]), which developed rapid and aggressive person-to-person spread, the coronavirus that causes Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) has yet to develop…
Acknowledgment The previous edition of this chapter was written by Dr. Eileen Schneider. Abstract Within the past 20 years, three novel coronaviruses have emerged from the animal kingdom to infect humans, with devastating disease and economic consequences. They were severe…
Clinical Vignette A man in his 50s presented to a facility managing patients infected with Ebola virus disease in Guinea. He had abdominal distension, was slow to speak, and had a mildly ataxic gait. Three weeks earlier he had participated…