Infectious Diseases and Drug Abuse

Drug abuse causes health risks which are sometimes as dangerous as the physiological effects of the drugs themselves. Injecting drug users (IDUs) are at high danger for direct vulnerability to various blood-borne bacterial and viral infections.

HIV/AIDS: Injection drug use is the main reason for the cause of AIDS in more than one-third of all adult and adolescent cases which were reported in the U.S. since the starting of the AIDS epidemic, as per the study of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

Noninjection drug use can also cause HIV transmission. Noninjecting drug users who exchange sex for drugs or who engage in unprotected sex at the time of influence of drugs boosts their risk of infection.

Hepatitis: Hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) are viral diseases which can damage liver cells and can result in cirrhosis and liver cancer. Drug abusers get infected to HBV through sexual intercourse with an infected person or when a person is exposed to an infected person’s blood. This happens when IDUs share needles. Blood transfusion and needle sharing are the main causes of infection of HCV.

Tuberculosis: Tuberculosis (TB) is transmitted from person to person through airborne bacteria. Drug users are from two to six times more vulnerable to TB infection than nonusers. IDUs are more expected to develop the disease in various organs and sites, instead of only in the lungs.

Other Infectious Diseases: Drug users are more vulnerable not only to HIV/AIDS but also to ther sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, gonorrhea, and genital herpes. Among IDUs, the most common cause for medical treatment is skin infection caused at the place of injecting drugs. Problems associated with these infections can range from skin ulcers and localized sweelings to stroke, botulism, tetanus, damage of lung tissue, and infection of the heart valves.

Bacterial and viral infections: These are caused due to injection drug use that can lead to systemic infections and destroy any body system.

Suggested Reading:
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Prescription Drug Addiction At Schools
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Athletes and Performance Enhancing Drugs

Updated: December 18, 2013 — 7:35 am