Illness associated with heroin use rises
Heroin contamination has become a concern in Los Angeles County, and local Santa Clarita opioid authorities caution those experiencing overdose symptoms to immediately go to the emergency room.
The county’s Department of Public Health has identified in its jurisdiction six potential cases of botulism, which is a type of bacterial illness. Opioid users can contract wound botulism through using black tar heroin into their skin and muscle, according to a news release.
Symptoms of wound botulism include drooping eyelids, blurred or double vision, difficulty speaking, difficulty swallowing, trouble breathing and shortness of breath, just like overdose symptoms, said Cary Quashen, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital’s executive director of behavioral health and director of Action Family Counseling.
The illness can occur within days or weeks of injecting the contaminated drug.
So far, Action Family Counseling, which helps oversee the rehabilitation process for opioid users, hasn’t encountered botulism cases. But Quashen is still worried.
“I was speaking to an addict today, and she had told me, ‘I play Russian Roulette every time I shoot dope,’” he said Thursday. “She knows about the heroin contamination. But when someone’s addicted to a drug like that, they aren’t thinking about these issues. They’re just thinking, ‘If I stick that needle in my heart, I’m not going to hurt. I’m going to feel good.’”
“We normally see two to three cases of botulism among heroin users per year, so this is a significant increase,” Muntu Davis, Los Angeles County health officer, said in a county release. “We are asking community providers and partners, particularly those serving people that use heroin, such as substance use providers, to inform patients and colleagues about the increased risk.”
Contaminated drugs look the same as drugs that do not contain bacteria, Quashen said. Often, the dealers may not even know if it can cause botulism because the contamination happens during cooking.
“We're spreading the word out there among our clinics, to immediately go to the ER if you get these symptoms,” he said.
“You’re not going to get arrested at the ER,” he said. “You’ll get treated, and your life may be safe. So don’t play with your life. If you don’t have drugs on you, you can’t get arrested. Don’t let fear get in the way of saving your life.”
The Action Family Counseling Center in Santa Clarita has around 70 residential beds always occupied, Quashen said, and they also have approximately 50 intensive outpatients from the SCV.
SCV Sheriff’s Capt. Robert Lewis said overdose statistics have gone up, and there have been seven deaths from opioid abuse in the SCV so far this year.
For general information on drug abuse prevention and treatment, visit the Substance Abuse Prevention and Control page at http:// publichealth.lacounty. gov/sapc or call 844804-7500. For more information on wound botulism, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at https:// www.cdc.gov/botulism/ wound-botulism.html.