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Relationship to Clinical Infections

Nick M. Moustoukas, MD; Ronald Lee Nichols, MD; Jeffrey W. Smith, MS, MPH; Richard E. Garey, PhD; Raymond R. Egan

Arch Surg. 1983;118(6):746-749.

Abstract
• Thirty-one samples of street heroin were analyzed bacteriologically and chemically as to their microbial burden and chemical adulterants (fillers). Sixty-one percent of the samples were positive for microbial growth. Many species were isolated from the positive samples with Bacillus sp (79%) and Aspergillus sp (10%) predominating. The level of contamination ranged from 1.6 x10² to 3.7 x 10⁴ organisms per gram. We obtained cultures from 16 addicts from the Chicago area and 21 from the New Orleans area who had soft-tissue infections related to their habit. Infections in this group of patients were usually polymicrobial; however, there was no correlation between the organisms recovered from street heroin and the addicts' infections. Most drug-related infections appear to be related to the addicts' own oral and dermal microflora. No correlation was observed between the chemical fillers and the bacteria recovered from the heroin.

(Arch Surg 1983;118:746-749)

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Surgery (Drs Moustoukas, Nichols, and Smith) and Psychiatry and Neurology (Dr Garey), Tulane University School of Medicine, and US Drug Enforcement Agency (Mr Egan), New Orleans.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Aug 9, 1982.

Reprint requests to Department of Surgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave, New Orleans, LA 70112 (Dr Nichols).

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