Unsafe injecting results in increased rates of hepatitis C and HIV among populations of injecting drug users. It is well established that it is unsafe to use needles or syringes that have previously been used by another injecting drug user. There is growing evidence that it is unsafe to share a “cooker”, filter, or other injecting paraphernalia with another injector. Most injecting drug users i...

results hepatitis b surface antigen (hbsag) was found in 122/3000 (4.1%) prisoners. hepatitis b e antigen (hbeag), anti-hiv, anti-hcv and anti-hiv/anti-hcv were detected in 52/122 (42.6%), 12/122 (10%), 22/122 (18%) and 3/122 (2.4%) prisoners, respectively. the hbv-dna was found in 115/122 (94.3%) prisoners. the most high risk behavior was to utilize the collaborative syringe by injecting drug ...

Necrotising fasciitis with pronounced local oedema is described in an injecting drug user. Clostridium novyi was an unexpected single pathogen isolated from infected tissue. The patient was among a cluster of cases, all injecting drug users, presenting with toxaemia and soft tissue infection. The causal role and pathogenicity of C novyi is discussed.

This article describes a sampling and estimation scheme for estimating the size of an injecting drug user (IDU) population by combining classical sampling and respondent-driven sampling procedures. It is designed to use the information from prevention programs, especially, Needle Exchange Programs (NEPs). The approach involves using respondent-driven sampling design to collect a sample of injec...

BACKGROUND There are few studies of mortality amongst people who inject drugs (PWID) in Australia. In this study, we estimate mortality in a cohort of PWID in Melbourne and examine predictors of mortality including health service use, demographic characteristics, drug use and personal wellbeing. FINDINGS We linked identifiers from the Melbourne injecting drug use cohort study (MIX; n = 655) t...

CASE REPORT A 46-yr-old injecting drug user was admitted with a history of repeated haemoptysis, pleuritic chest pain and fevers. He had a neutrophilia and elevated C-reactive protein. A pulmonary embolus was diagnosed by computed tomography (CT) pulmonary angiography and he was treated with low molecular weight heparin. He received i.v. antibiotics (flucloxacillin, amoxicillin, gentamicin and ...