The natural history of liver disease in former drug users

Recommendations for identification and public health management of persons with chronic hepatitis B virus infection

“…44,45 Injection Drug Users. Chronic HBV infection has been identified in 2.7%-11% of IDUs in a variety of settings [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] ; HBsAg prevalence of 7.1% (95% CI ϭ 6.3%-7.8%) has been described among IDUs with HIV coinfection. 57 IDUs contribute disproportionately to the burden of infection in the United States: in chronic HBV registries, 4%-12% of chronically infected persons were known to have a history of injection drug use.…”

Periconceptional folic acid use: Still room to improve

“…Chronic HBV infection has been identified in 2.7%‐11% of IDUs in a variety of settings49–56; HBsAg prevalence of 7.1% (95% CI = 6.3%‐7.8%) has been described among IDUs with HIV coinfection 57. IDUs contribute disproportionately to the burden of infection in the United States: in chronic HBV registries, 4%‐12% of chronically infected persons were known to have a history of injection drug use 58.…”

Oral Effects of Drug Abuse

“…In most instances, those reports reflect data obtained from users of parenterally administered drugs, most commonly the opiates and usually heroin. Commonly reported disorders include AIDS (Barone et al, 1990;Waterson, 1983) and hepatitis or other liver diseases (Webster et al, 1977;White, 1973;Cherubin et al, 1976). Other infections are common, to include pulmonary disease, skin infections, venereal diseases, and infective endocarditis (Scheutz, 1986b;Webster et al, 1977;Davis et al, 1983;Ayer and Cutright, 1974;Briggs et al, 1967).…”

“…Parenteral drug users are especially susceptible to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and hepatitis A (HAV), hepatitis B (HBV) (Scheutz et al, 1983;Cherubin, 1976;Mangla et al, 1976;Centers for Disease Control, 1988;Mathiesen et al, 1979), and hepatitis C (HCV) (Widell et al, 1982;Lenzi et al, 1990;Bortolotti, 1982;Weiland, 1981). Hepatitis B or C may be associated with chronic aggressive hepatitis in 15 to 25% of fonner addicts, as compared to 5 to 10% of the general population who have been infected with HBV or HCV (Scheutz, 1986b;Lowenthal, 1967;Weiland et al, 1981).…”

“…Liver function tests are often elevated in narcotic addicts (Cherubin et al, 1976;Mangla et al, 1976), suggesting the possibility of a direct hepatotoxic effect of parenterally administered opiates or their contaminants (Ireton et al, 1974). Gorodetzky et al (1968), however, conducted an experiment on humans who were made dependent on morphine administered subcutaneously and sustained in this state for 6 to 8 months.…”