Thirty-one percent of those hospitalized for bacteremia or sepsis and thirty-eight percent of those hospitalized for endocarditis were aged 60 years or older. Forty-seven percent of those with SSTI and 41% of those with osteomyelitis were living with HCV infection. The percentage of patients with a diagnosis of opioid-only use was greatest among those with osteomyelitis, while the percentage of patients diagnosed with ATS-only use was highest among those hospitalized for SSTI. As the disease advances, the person may develop chronic itchy and flaky skin, oral thrush, extreme malaise, shingles, short-term memory impairment, and unintentional weight loss. Although there is no cure, many people with HIV live normal, active lives with appropriate treatment, which includes a variety of antiretroviral drugs used daily to suppress the virus and reduce its ability to spread. Symptoms of this skin infection include pain, fever, red streaking of the skin, swelling, tenderness, swollen lymph nodes, and leakage of yellow fluid from blisters.

• Injecting the drugs and the lifestyle that may accompany drug use can increase the risk of infection.
• Clinical presentations to the acute medical take vary from skin and soft tissue infections to complications of bacteraemias, and can be challenging with difficulties in adherence, pain management, early self-discharges and loss to follow-up.
• The most commonly injected drugs are opioids, such as heroin, fentanyl, and oxycodone.
• Multiple direct and indirect complications can occur as a result of the act of injecting itself, either locally at the injection site or elsewhere in the body.
• These states could develop into sepsis and septic emboli (bacteria and pus-filled embolisms), both of which can be life-threatening conditions.

Additionally, necrotizing fasciitis may cause a crackling or popping sensation under the skin resulting from gas trapped in the soft tissues. As necrotizing fasciitis develops, it destroys the tissues beneath the skin. Prompt treatment is needed as this condition can develop and spread quickly. While necrotizing fasciitis is rare, it is a serious and life-threatening complication from intravenous drug use.

What do abscess from IV drug use look like?

Participants reported storing cottons wet for a prolonged time in drug dilution from previous injections for a “cotton shot” when they did not have access to drugs. Cotton shots, when not shared, are perceived by participants as a safe last resort source for drugs, unaware that warm, moist environments facilitate bacterial growth. Additional substances may be needed to prepare drugs for intravenous administration, which is an acid in the setting of intravenous crack use. Understanding blood-borne iv drug use viral transmission risk was also reinforced as a result of participants’ lived experiences, which subsequently would lead to avoidance of needle sharing practices. Sepsis and septic shock can result from an infection anywhere in the body, such aspneumonia,influenza, orurinary tract infections. Many who do survive are left with life-changing effects, such aspost-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain and fatigue, organ dysfunction (organs don’t work properly), and/or amputations.

• Sepsis is commonly referred to as “blood poisoning,” as the bacteria or toxins produced by them overtake the bloodstream.
• When removing the dressing, dampen the gauze that’s touching the wound so you don’t pull off newly formed tissue.
• If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, seek medical attention immediately.
• Our findings may be less applicable in areas where methamphetamine is the predominant drug used, as treatment options for stimulant use disorder are limited.

Conceptualized and designed the study and had full access to all data in the study. They take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. All authors contributed to the writing and critical revision of the report. All authors contributed to the data acquisition, data analysis, or data interpretation and reviewed and approved the final version.

Related articles in PubMed

Potential bias in participant responses could have occurred given participants were recruited and interviewed in a medical setting, and a member of the research team conducting the interviews included a medical doctor. Convenient recruitment of participants may introduce bias and limits generalizability of the results. Future work should aim to validate our proposed theory with larger samples and increased diversity within the participants.

At Burning Tree, our addiction specialists can help you safely navigate through co-occurring disorders by utilizing a dual diagnosis approach to treating chemical dependency behaviors and mental disorders. If you are ready to break the cycle of relapse and take hold of a new life, call us at Burning Tree today. Because of this, many users https://ecosoberhouse.com/ will switch to injecting intramuscularly or subcutaneously instead of intravenously. The infections from IV drug use can be quite serious—they can rage beneath the skin and cause swelling, pain, and even tissue death. A person with swollen lymph glands that has a high fever and heavy sweats may need immediate medical attention.

Presentation and diagnosis

Microbiologic failure was defined as new microbiological evidence of the primary pathogen within 90 days of discharge. Multidisciplinary team support interventions were stratified by encounter type and summed for the cohort. Hartnett KP, Jackson KA, Felsen C, Mcdonald R, Bardossy AC, Gokhale RH, et al. Morbidity and mortality weekly report bacterial and fungal infections in persons who inject drugs-western New York, 2017. Increasing infectious endocarditis admissions among young people who inject drugs. Several participants reported no prior knowledge regarding hand and skin hygiene prior to injection.

• Currently, there is only prevention by avoiding blood-to-blood contact with use of sterile injection equipment, by not sharing injection equipment, and through safer sex.
• Serious bacterial infections, including skin/soft tissue infections, osteomyelitis, bacteremia, and endocarditis, are particularly morbid and mortal consequences of injection drug use.
• Hyperintensity may also be seen on high B value diffusion-weighted imaging in the acute phase.
• Get help for your physical symptoms and address the underlying factors fueling the cycle of addiction.
• If a staph infection spreads to the lungs, it can induce symptoms of pneumonia, such as chills, fever, cough with yellowish or greenish sputum, and chest pain when breathing or coughing.

The contraction of bloodborne diseases, such as HIV and Hepatitis C, is also common among users who share unsterilized needles and other paraphernalia used for injection purposes. Bacterial infections often arise from injecting a needle into fatty tissue beneath the surface layer of skin. Veins that leak during injection along with toxic drug usage can cause infection as well as tissue morbidity.