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Article: Wound botulism in injection drug users.(Letter to the editor)(Clinical report)
- Article from:
- Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Article date:
- June 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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To the Editor: Infections are the most frequent and serious wound complications in injection drug users (IDUs). Wound botulism is primarily caused by Clostridium botulinum (1) and was first observed in IDUs in New York in 1982 (2). It results from the introduction of C. botulinum spores into a wound and their multiplication, germination, in situ synthesis, and secretion of toxin under anaerobic conditions. Of 7 designated toxin types, neurotoxins A, B, E, and F result in human disease. During the 1990s, wound botulism cases among IDUs increased in the United States in conjunction with the use of black-tar heroin (3). Since 2000, wound botulism cases in IDUs have been ...