Substance Abuse And Mental Health Association - 1098 Words

Reported heroin use in the United States is rising. Recent data suggest that almost 700,000 Americans consumed heroin last year, which represents an almost 40% increase from 2007 (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Association, 2014; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Association, 2008). An overwhelming increase in the dependence on prescription opioid analgesics over the last two decades combined with a supply heavy market of high quality-low cost heroin imported from South America may be concurrent factors driving this trend (Cicero, Ellis, Surratt, Kurtz, 2014; Mars, Bourgois, Karandinos, Montero Ciccarone, 2014; Lankaneau et al., 2011). While precise estimates of the relative prevalence of different drug administration routes are†¦show more content†¦Skin and or soft tissue infections often occur following a break in normal skin integrity from either trauma or skin disease (Brown Ebright, 2002). The vast majority of these infections are caused by the gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, part of the normal flora existing on the skins surface. Abscess has been found to be the most commonly found SSTI in PWID (Brown Ebright, 2002). Symptoms of abscess include pain and or tenderness at and around the site of infection, swelling, and redness topped with a pustule. If left untreated, spread and progression of the SSTI leading to tissue ischemia and death, gangrene, sepsis and death can occur (Brown Pieper, 2002). Hospital treatment of a SSTI is costly. Analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample by the Agency for Healthcare research estimated that in 2009, costs associated with hospital treatment of S STI reached an estimated $4.8 billion, which is approximately $11,000 per patient (Suya et al., 2009). A prospective study of people who inject drugs (PWID) recruited from a neighborhood with high prevalence of injection drug use in San Francisco in 2000, found that 32% of participants reported having an injection-related SSTI at the time of interview (Binswanger et al., 2000). Results from surveillance data of PWID in the UK between 2006-2008 found that