Since 2011 Romania is experiencing a dramatic increase of newly diagnosed HIV infections among injecting drug users (IDUs), mainly linked to the introduction of new psychoactive substances (NPS) on the Romanian market, their use being related to higher levels of risk behavior compared to opioid abuse. There is no sufficient data showing the natural course of HIV in subjects infected through IDU...

BACKGROUND Many injection drug users (IDUs) seek care at emergency departments and some require hospital admission because of late presentation in the course of their illness. We determined the predictors of frequent emergency department visits and hospital admissions among community-based IDUs and estimated the incremental hospital utilization costs incurred by IDUs with early HIV infection re...

The prevalence of and risk factors for abscesses and cellulitis were investigated among a community sample of injection drug users (IDUs). Participants were interviewed, and those with symptoms were examined. Of 169 IDUs, 54 (32%) had abscesses (n=35), cellulitis (n=5), or both (n=14); 27% had lanced their own abscesses; and 16% had self-treated with antibiotics they purchased on the street. ID...

We employed recently developed statistical methods to explore the epidemic behaviour of hepatitis C subtype 1a and subtype 3a among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Flanders, Belgium, using new gene sequence data sampled among two geographically distinct populations of IDUs. First the extent of hepatitis C transmission across regions/countries was studied through calculation of association indice...

Intraductal ultrasonography (IDUS) provides real-time, cross-sectional imaging of pancreatobiliary ducts and surrounding structures during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography using a high-frequency ultrasound (US) transducer. Hence, IDUS has been considered a sensitive tool in the evaluation of suspicious choledocholithiasis and neoplasms, to help distinguish between benign and malig...

Correspondence Figure 1. Comparison of the genotype distribution among injection drug users, over a period of 6 years To the Editor—With great interest we have read the article by van Asten et al. in The Journal of Infectious Diseases [1]. An important aspect of their study is its detailing of the introduction and spread of " new " hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes among injection drug users (I...

BACKGROUND Injecting drug use is a key risk factor, for several infections of public health importance, especially hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV). In England and Wales, where less than 1% of the population are likely to be injecting drug users (IDUs), approximately 38% of laboratory reports of HBV, and 95% of HCV reports are attributed to injecting drug use. METHODS Voluntary unlinke...

BACKGROUND Surveillance data of Sindh AIDS Control Programme, Pakistan suggest that HIV infection is rapidly increasing among IDUs in Karachi and has reached 9% in 2004-5 indicating that the country has progressed from nascent to concentrated level of HIV epidemic. Findings of 2nd generation surveillance in 2004-5 also indicate 104/395 (26.3%) IDUs HIV positive in the city. METHODS We conduct...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Prevalence of injection drug users (IDUs) is high in the northeastern region of India. This coupled with unsafe injecting practices as well as practice of tattooing in remote tribal areas call for baseline data on the prevalence of parentally transmitted viral diseases. In the present study we aimed to measure the risk behaviours and seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus (H...

Self-reported histories of sexually transmissible diseases (STDs) and HIV serostatus were investigated as part of a study of HIV risk behaviour in a sample of 1245 Syndey injecting drug users (IDUs) (mean age 27.5 years) both in and out of treatment. A high lifetime prevalence of STDs was reported in both men and women. For male IDUs, the lowest reported lifetime prevalence of STDs was in heter...