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Epidemiology of acute infections in people who inject drugs in Australia

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posted on 2024-02-28, 00:01 authored by LO Attwood, D O'Keefe, Peter HiggsPeter Higgs, O Vujovic, JS Doyle, AJ Stewardson
Issues: People who inject drugs are at risk of acute infections, such as skin and soft tissue infections, infective endocarditis, bone and joint infections and bloodstream infections. There has been an increase in these infections in people who inject drugs internationally over the past 10 years. However, the local data regarding acute infections in Australia has not been well described. Approach: We review the epidemiology of acute infections and associated morbidity and mortality amongst people who inject drugs in Australia. We summarise risk factors for these infections, including the concurrent social and psychological determinants of health. Key Findings: The proportion of people who report having injected drugs in the prior 12 months in Australia has decreased over the past 18 years. However, there has been an increase in the burden of acute infections in this population. This increase is driven largely by skin and soft tissue infections. People who inject drugs often have multiple conflicting priorities that can delay engagement in care. Implications: Acute infections in people who inject drugs are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Acute infections contribute to significant bed days, surgical requirements and health-care costs in Australia. The increase in these infections is likely due to a complex interplay of microbiological, individual, social and environmental factors. Conclusion: Acute infections in people who inject drugs in Australia represent a significant burden to both patients and health-care systems. Flexible health-care models, such as low-threshold wound clinics, would help directly target, and address early interventions, for these infections.

Funding

Lucy O. Attwood is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Postgraduate Scholarship (GNT2002670). Andrew J. Stewardson is supported by an Australian NHMRC Early Career Fellowships (GNT1141398). Joseph S. Doyle is supported by an Australian NHMRC Career Development Grant (GNT1166499).

History

Publication Date

2024-01-01

Journal

Drug and Alcohol Review

Volume

43

Issue

1

Pagination

11p. (p. 304-314)

Publisher

Wiley

ISSN

0959-5236

Rights Statement

© 2023 The Authors. Drug and Alcohol Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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