Acute infections in intravenous drug users

Abstract

Mortality in injecting drug users (IDUs) is up to 22 times higher than for the age-adjusted population.1 Despite increased provision of needle and syringe programmes, reduced needle and syringe sharing, and higher uptake of hepatitis B (HBV) vaccination,2 IDUs remain vulnerable to a range of infections with potentially life-threatening complications. In this paper, we describe the epidemiology, presentation, diagnosis and management of infections in IDUs who may present to acute physicians and the management of drug dependency on acute medical wards.