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The US opioid epidemic is driving a spike in infectious diseases

Researchers around the country are scrambling to understand these outbreaks, but lack solid data on case numbers.
  1. Sara Reardon
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Opioid 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 misuse that threatens to compound the crisis.

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Nature 571, 15-16 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02019-3

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 02 July 2019: This story originally stated that a study found a 10-fold increase in heart infections among people who misused drugs in North Carolina. It is a 13-fold increase.

References

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