MRSA in people who inject drugs
MRSA (meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusis) is a type of bacteria that is resistant to several widely used antibiotics. This means it is a hard infection to treat. If it isn't treated, it can lead to sepsis, a potentially fatal type of blood poisoning.
Simon Packer and colleagues did a study to investigate why a significant but small number of people who inject drugs in Bristol develop MRSA sepsis and what can we do to reduce this.
Read our case study about how PPI was used to ensure that people who inject drugs could be involved in the research.
The EEPRIS Study
The EEPRIS Study team, funded by the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation at University of Bristol (formerly the NIHR HPRU in Evaluation of Interventions) worked to improve treatment of respiratory tract infections in children and reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing.
A group of Bristol parents helped to shape both the design and wording of the study paper work, including making the children's information leaflet more fun, advising on the content and process of online surveys, and other study processes. The parents brought up good queries about the meaning and purpose of some of the survey questions, which helped hone the science of what was being asked.
Low versus high dead space syringes: user preferences and attitudes
The aim of this study was to understand the acceptability among people who inject drugs of 'low dead space' syringes - a new type of syringe which could reduce the chance of spreading infections among people who inject drugs if syringes are re-used. It was important to understand their acceptability among people who inject drugs to ensure that the syringes provided by needle and syringe programmes met the needs of those using them.
The study was jointly funded by the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation and NIHR ARC West.