The University of Vermont Medical Center “experienced a substantial increase in the number of community-acquired group A streptococcal (GAS) bloodstream infections, predominantly in persons who inject drugs,” in 2022-2023, according to reporting released by CDC.
Among UVMMC patients, cases of GAS bacteremia steadily increased from 2020, when only three cases were reported, compared to the first 10 months of 2023, when 45 cases were reported. Of the 64 total cases identified during 2022-2023, “a total of 45 (70%) occurred among 38 patients known to be persons who inject drugs.”
Of those 45 cases, 28 (62%) of them were in patients who reported “experiencing homelessness at the time of GAS bacteremia diagnosis.” Plus, among 35 (78%) cases, “patients reported active injection drug use at the time of bacteremia; among the remaining 10 (22%) cases, patients reported previous injection drug use and current noninjection illicit drug use.”
This increase in GAS bacteremia “followed an increase in involvement of xylazine in fatal opioid overdoses in Vermont.” Xylazine-related wounds “might serve as a portal of entry for bacteria into the bloodstream and could, at least in part, explain the increase in GAS bacteremia described in this report.”
