Infectious diseases and drug abuse. Prevention and treatment in the drug abuse treatment system.

Several communicable infectious diseases, including AIDS, hepatitis B infection, gonorrhea, syphilis, and tuberculosis, are increasing among drug abusers. Drug abuse treatment programs may be ideal sites to identify those infections and initiate and maintain appropriate medical management. This paper reviews the epidemiology of those infections among drug abusers in the USA, presents rudimentary aspects of medical management of selected infectious diseases, and discusses the need to integrate infectious diseases, drug abuse treatment, and public health approaches if we are to reverse, or at least stabilize, the trends of those diseases.