T
Theo520
Guest
The US opioid epidemic is driving a spike in infectious diseases
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02019-3Opioid addiction [kills tens of thousands of people every year] in the United States and the trend shows no signs of slowing. Now, public-health officials are worried about a surge in bacterial and viral infections linked to opioid abuse that threatens to compound the crisis.
This surge includes in unprecedented rise in bacterial infections — including those caused by Staphylococcus aureus , a [bacterium that’s frequently resistant to antibiotics] — and a spike in new cases of HIV and hepatitis associated with injecting opioids that threatens to undo decades of progress in corralling these diseases.