OPIATES AND INFECTION

This review on the effects of opium use on infectious diseases discuss es the complete spectrum of infections in the opiate user, including t hose of the lung, the GI tract, the skin, the skeletal system, and the CNS. There is both increased prevalence and increased severity of bac terial and viral infections in injection drug users with the outcome o f increased morbidity and mortality. The experimental administration o f opiates has lead to a greater understanding of the effects on suscep tibility to and progression of infectious diseases. Animal models of o piate dependence and infection are reviewed with specific attention to cases in which the opiate-mediated effects are harmful and in which c ases they are beneficial.