Doctors warned of a potential public health epidemic in a recent statement on patients in Los Angeles and New York who developed serious skin reactions following smoking or snorting cocaine believed to be contaminated by means of a veterinary medication drug dealers are using to dilute, or “cut,” up to 70% of the cocaine within the U.S.
The statement, published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, said six patients residential purple-colored patch of necrotic skin on their ears, nose, cheeks and other parts of their body and, in a few instances, suffered permanent scarring after they had used cocaine.
Doctors in San Francisco had previously reported two like cases there. Others have also reported on users of contaminated cocaine who residential a related life-threatening immune-system disorder call agranulocytosis, which kills 7% to 10% of patients.The U.S. Department of Justice has reported that up to 70% of cocaine in the U.S. is infected with the drug, levamisole, which is cheap, widely available and normally used for deworming livestock. Levamisole had been prescribed for humans in the past except was discontinued after developing side effects similar to those originate in the cocaine users.
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