Bacterial infections and skin cleaning prior to injection among intravenous drug users.
Year: 1992
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: In a survey of 1,057 active intravenous drug users in Baltimore, MD, who were recruited through extensive community outreach, 12 reported endocarditis and 113 reported subcutaneous abscesses in the 6 months before being interviewed. Of all the persons surveyed, 556 reported cleaning their skin prior to injection at any time and 173 reported cleaning their skin all the time in the 6 months before the interview. The frequency of subcutaneous abscesses was lower among those who reported skin cleaning all the time; a similar trend was noted for frequency of endocarditis. The relatively simple procedure of encouraging intravenous drug users to clean their skin prior to injection will not eliminate but might reduce the frequency of these serious and expensive infectious complications of intravenous drug use.
Source: PubMed Central
Authors: D Vlahov, M Sullivan, J Astemborski, K E Nelson
Institution: Johns Hopkins University
Language: English
Topic: HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W57153379