Foreign Material in Histological Specimens from Living Intravenous Drug Abusers (IVDA) — Illustration of 3 Cases

Drug addicts using the injection mode for drug delivery often suffer from complications relating to non-sterile needle pricks besides unintentional effects of the drugs such as anaphylaxis and other organ damage. Non-sterile injections lead to infections of all kinds, most common being viral such as Hepatitis B & C and HIV infections; besides the usual bacterial and fungal infections. The evidence for this habit however, resides in the inert fillers they inject into their bodies together with the drug. Particles phagocytosed by macrophages in the body constitute permanent evidence of their past demeanor. The present write-up serves to illustrate the presence of injected crystalline material in various organs/tissues of 3 living subjects as seen at routine diagnostic histology in a regional acute hospital. The findings at autopsies of those who die from illicit drug abuse are well documented in the forensic literature 1 .