@article{8dc8f93e0e1548d2a67ae07a5957d4d1,
title = "Reply to Arnold and Beavin",
author = "Klein, {Eili Y.} and Katie Tseng and Morgan, {Daniel J.} and Ramanan Laxminarayan",
note = "Funding Information: Estimating the number of intravenous drug users is difficult, but tracking the number of deaths due to illicit drug use is easier. In the time period of the study by Klein and colleagues [1], 2010–2014, the mortality rate due to overdose increased significantly in the United States, and was even higher for the state of Kentucky (Figure 1 [2]). The regions of the United States studied by Klein et al are from their database, which had regions outlined by the US Census Bureau. The authors used the database from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which was developed as part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [3]. The South includes states that had some of the highest rates of drug overdose mortality in 2015 (West Virginia, ranked first; Kentucky, fourth; and Tennessee, tenth) [4]. In our hospital, the number of deaths among persons who overdosed with illicit drugs and who had MRSA septicemia increased from 26 cases in 2014, 26 in 2015, 37 in 2016 and 40 in 2017. Illicit drug use may be a contributing factor explaining the increased S. aureus septicemia that Klein and colleagues observed in the South.",
year = "2018",
month = jul,
day = "2",
doi = "10.1093/cid/ciy119",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "67",
pages = "320--322",
journal = "Clinical Infectious Diseases",
issn = "1058-4838",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",
number = "2",
}