Eddie:
Sharing straws, papers, and dollar bills can lead to bacterial and/or viral infections. It is dangerous. You should keep your own straw handy and change it frequently if you are choosing to snort Cocaine. Cocaine can cause you to have a heart attack, stroke, or coma, which all lead to anoxious brain death. Very deadly drug.
Most people contract Hepatitis B from dirty dollar bills and sometimes Hepatitis C, if body fluids are left behind. Just a little blood from inside the nose can lead to contraction of Hepatitis B or C. Also, even if someone doesn't have signs and symptoms of a condition, they can be a "carrier" of something and pass it along to you. Some symptoms of illnesses take weeks or longer to surface. All kinds of **** comes from dirty straws and bills. Many people report Sinusitis and warts in the nose too. Perferation of the septum (cartilage in nose seperating sinus passages and supporting nose structure) is a danger for chronic Cocaine users today. This damage is irreversable. Blood poisioning (Sepsis) can easily occur in coke heads too. That leads to death usually.
Quit for good.
Happy Holidays,
T. Palmer, MD
Emergency Medicine
I use to share snorting and shooting tools with coke in the mid 70's and found out i had Hep C in the early 90's when they started testing for it !!! I'm not sure with method got me, but a trace of blood from one person's nose into a cut in your nose sometimes give you want they have. For peace of mind get some blood work done and keep your nose out of trouble. lol
I would think there is a deffinate chance of catching a bacterial infection, the flu or a cold if someone had one. As far as hepatitis, std's etc, I'm not sure.
And of course the easiest way to avoid any problems is to not do it. The flu or infection may eventually be the least of your worries. Sorry, had to say it.