Infections in Intravenous Drug Users in the Perspective of Infectious Emergencies

Abstract

Introduction; An increasing number of intravenous drug users are seen in now days. Intravenous drug users (IDUs) are a group of subjects who inject different drugs, generally in the extremities. This way of taking drugs, apart from leading to an addiction, on the other hand also serves as the possibility of taking or spreading infections. The aim of this paper is to provide a brief overview of IDUs patients, who were presented to the emergency department of the infectious diseases service, and required further hospitalization, during the period January 2012 - December 2015. Material and methods: The study is retrospective and was carried out in the emergency department of the infectious disease service and the infectious disease service as well. During the period January 2012 – December 2015, 26 patients were hospitalized in our hospital as IDUs. There were 20 male patients. The average age of the patients was 32 years. The main clinical symptoms were fever, dyspnea, chest pain, pain in the extremities, edema of the extremities, necrotic ulcers at the injection site, jaundice in the sclera, confusional state. The resulting diagnoses were viral infections (HIV/AIDS infection, viral hepatitis), septic conditions (endocarditis, fasciitis), skin infections (cellulitis, S. aureus infections), pulmonary infections. Conclusions: Viral, bacterial and fungal infectious diseases are quite frequent among the people of this community. This is related to the way of life (poor social economic conditions, poor hygiene), risky sexual behaviors and the use of syringes from one person to another. The screening of this community is important to prevent any infectious disease.