How come Iv drug users dont get sepsis that easily

[bob123]

How come Iv drug users dont get sepsis that easily? I mean street heroin or meth is going to be full of bacteria. I dont get it. But if they skin pop it (muscle) they get infections more easily.

 

[BlueHues]

It happens, but the human body is pretty good at fighting off infection....It takes some work to fuck yourself up....I've never had an abcess or an infection that got to the point that I needed medical attention in well over a decade of using needles....

My guess as to why muscling(IM) drugs seems to cause more infections than IV....If an infection is in an area that's mostly smaller blood vessels it's harder for your body's natural defenses to reach the offending bacteria and kill it off....at least, that's my guess...

Edit:Also, if whatever you're injecting is just kind of "sitting there" and not directly flowing in the bloodstream, it gives the bacteria more time to multiply and attack the surrounding tissue. again, that's my guess...

 

[bob123]

It happens, but the human body is pretty good at fighting off infection....It takes some work to fuck yourself up....I've never had an abcess or an infection that got to the point that I needed medical attention in well over a decade of using needles....

My guess as to why muscling(IM) drugs seems to cause more infections than IV....If an infection is in an area that's mostly smaller blood vessels it's harder for your body's natural defenses to reach the offending bacteria and kill it off....at least, that's my guess...

Edit:Also, if whatever you're injecting is just kind of "sitting there" and not directly flowing in the bloodstream, it gives the bacteria more time to multiply and attack the surrounding tissue. again, that's my guess...

sepsis by definition means "bacteria in the bloodstream" so shouldent every iv shot (which is non sterile) give you sepsis?

 

[nAON]

sepsis by definition means "bacteria in the bloodstream" so shouldent every iv shot (which is non sterile) give you sepsis?

There are bacteria literally fucking everywhere. More than just that factors into whether you get an infection or not.

 

[BlueHues]

This should probably be moved into ODD....if not ADD.....although someone may be able to give you a better answer here...

But as nAON said, there's a lot of different factors that go into it... To get a full-blown systemic blood infection? I imagine it would take enough bacteria as to overwhelm the immume systems ability to fight it....Also, the type of bacteria, the area of the infection, the strength of the individual person's immune system would come into play, I imagine...

It usually doesn't happen, and there is bacteria everywhere.....

 

[bob123]

There are bacteria literally fucking everywhere. More than just that factors into whether you get an infection or not.

one place they are NOT in is in the bloodstream.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

One might say some of us get extremely lucky. I'm amazed I have never had an abscess or worse.

 

[Psychedelic Jay]

The reason for infection more easily to happen for IM and SC is...

The immune system is most actively protecting in the bloodstream. Your muscle and soft tissue are biological sponges so to speak. What happens when a sponge gets contaminated? The bacteria is extremely hard to completely get rid of, and the porous nature of the soft tissue and muscle is just like that. It creates a perfect habitat for germs and parasites alike. It is much harder for WBC to encounter them.

This is why crude injection solutions are highly ill-advised in these routes of administration... Contamination of even the smallest degree can create major necrosis of the soft tissue.

 

[Venrak]

^Exactly.

Bacterial infections in soft tissue tend to have a lot more time in the injection site where they can multiply easily in one place.