Drugs of Abuse – A Global Pandemic
Drugs of Abuse – A Global Pandemic
4th September 2019
Drugs of Abuse – A Global Pandemic
The prevalence of drug addiction and abuse across the globe has become a growing concern. It is currently estimated that 71 million people use drugs of abuse with around 166,000 direct deaths occurring from drug use in 2017.
The WHO (World Health Organisation) estimate that 11 million people inject drugs across the globe, of which 1.3 million are living with HIV, 5.5 million with hepatitis C, and 1 million with both HIV and hepatitis C. In addition to infectious disease, long term drug abuse increases the risk of several cancers, cardiovascular effects, respiratory effects, gastrointestinal effects, kidney & liver damage and mental health issues.
The abuse of drugs is one of the most pressing issues in the USA and other countries globally. Drug abuse not only affects the individual, but can also have far-reaching consequences that affect family, employment, personal health, health care systems, local communities, and society as a whole.
Global Drug Abuse – The buzz that keeps on going!
> Misuse of illicit drugs affects society through secondary costs incurred such as crime, reduced productivity at work, and health care expenses.
> Substance abuse costs the US health care system about $11 billion, with overall costs reaching $193 billion.
> Substance abuse and addiction also affects other areas of life leading to broken families, destroyed careers, death due to negligence or accident, domestic violence, physical abuse and child abuse.
> Drug abuse and addiction changes the chemistry of your brain. The longer an individual abuses drugs, the more damage is caused, making it more difficult to return to ‘normal’ during drug rehabilitation.
> Treating and tackling drug addiction is a challenge. As drug treatment and health services continue to fall short, there is an increased need to continuously adapt drug detection and analysis.
Randox laboratories are at the forefront, aiding the fight against drugs of abuse with a comprehensive range of 10 drugs of abuse assays including several stimulants, sedatives and opioids available to run on Randox’s very own clinical chemistry analysers, the RX series. To find out now how Randox is helping to tackle the ongoing prevalence of drugs of abuse click here or buy directly from the Randox Online Store.
About Randox Laboratories
As a world leader in the in-vitro diagnostic industry with over 35 years’ experience, Randox is leading the charge in moving from a one-size-fits-all approach towards decisions, practices and products tailored to the needs of the individual. This innovative approach to diagnostics has facilitated the development of revolutionary products designed specifically to enhance a patients’ quality of life.
Want to know more?
Contact us or visit our Drugs of Abuse pages to learn more.
Related Products
RX Overview
Randox Reagents
Therapeutic Drugs Monitoring
References
Randox QC unveils brand new multi-analyte commutable Acusera Infectious Disease Controls
Randox Quality Control is set to introduce its brand new Acusera Infectious Disease (Serology) Controls at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry 2019, designed to deliver a cost-effective, high quality solution for the analysis of infectious diseases whilst producing trustworthy results.
The Infectious Disease Serology Internal Quality Controls will include quality control material for Lyme Disease, ToRCH, Epstein-Barr virus, HIV, Hepatitis A virus, Human T-lymphotropic virus, Cytomegalovirus, and Varicella zoster virus (Chickenpox or Shingles).
Manufactured from human plasma, each control is designed to react to the test system in the same manner as the patient sample, helping to meet ISO 15189:2012 requirements while also reducing inconvenient shifts in QC results when reagent batches are changed.
Lynsey Adams, Randox Quality Control Manager, commented;
“These controls are the first of their kind on the market to be used on a wide range of immunoassay analysers. Unlike the current practice of analyser-specific tests, these controls can be used across a wide range of laboratory technologies and, with a working stability of 60 days at 2°c to 8°c, waste and costs are kept to a minimum.”
Acusera Infectious Disease (Serology) Controls are also multi-analyte and therefore, testing can be consolidated to just a small number of vials, saving laboratories valuable space and time. A single control can be used to assess performance across a range of analytes.
Key benefits of the Acusera Infectious Disease Controls;
- All samples are provided in a user-friendly, liquid, ready-to-use format
- Manufactured from human plasma, each control reacts to the test system in the same manner as a patient sample
- Designed to deliver an independent, unbiased assessment of performance with any immunoassay instrument
- Working stability of 60 days ensures waste and costs are kept to a minimum
- Multi-marker controls help reduce the number of individual controls required
- Designed to challenge clinically-relevant levels, samples will ensure accurate and reliable instrument performance
Ideal for microbiology and virology laboratories, blood banks, public health laboratories or clinical laboratories performing serology testing, Randox QC’s Acusera Infectious Disease (Serology) Controls are set to revolutionise serology testing and provide reliable, accurate results time and time again.
For further information please email acusera@randox.com, visit www.randoxqc.com or tel: +44 (0) 28 9442 2413 / fax: +44 (0) 28 9445 2912
