Serum hepatitis in a group of drug addicts.

Abstract

THE marked increase in drug addiction among adolescents has been amply documented,1 , 2 as has the transmission of malaria,3 tetanus,4 acute endocarditis5 and septicemia6 among drug addicts. To our knowledge the first report in the American literature of viral hepatitis in drug addicts was that by Steigmann and his co-workers7 in 1950. They reported a group of 23 addicts with homologous serum hepatitis that they thought was spread by infected needles and syringes. Appelbaum and Kalkstein8 described a group of addicts with hepatitis, several of whom had a needle-sharing associate with a history of jaundice. The increased prevalence of viral hepatitis . . .