News (Media Awareness Project) - Australia: Hepatitis Rampant Among Young Offenders |
| Title: | Australia: Hepatitis Rampant Among Young Offenders |
| Published On: | 2000-02-07 |
| Source: | Age, The (Australia) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-05 04:26:55 |
HEPATITIS RAMPANT AMONG YOUNG OFFENDERS
The rate of hepatitis C infection among teenagers within Melbourne's
juvenile justice system has doubled over the past three years, according to
a major forensic health service funded by the Victorian Government.
The director of the Adolescent Forensic Health Service, Dr Friederike Veit,
said hepatitis C was rampant among the young inmates of the Melbourne
Juvenile Justice Centre, where more than 85 per cent of cases are
drug-related and most are injecting drug users.
The most recent testing for blood-borne viruses, in 1996, indicated 23 per
cent of the young men aged between 15 and 20 at the Melbourne Juvenile
Justice Centre - and 35 per cent of the injecting drug users - had hepatitis
C.
"But my impression is that it has doubled since then. The reason is that
it's rampant in the community. It's an epidemic," Dr Veit said. She said
there had also been a surge in the rate of hepatitis A infections in that
time.
It is a year since it emerged that an HIV-positive boy at the Malmsbury
Youth Training Centre had shared a needle with six other inmates (who later
tested negative), prompting the then Community Services Minister, Dr Denis
Napthine, to say he was prepared to consider needle exchange programs for
heroin addicts in custody. But such programs are yet to be introduced into a
custodial setting.
Dr Veit said the alarming spread of hepatitis C - which is rarely fatal on
its own but can lead to chronic liver disease, liver failure and cancer of
the liver - was partly explained by the growth in the number of young
teenagers who injected heroin, and by the fact that hepatitis C was highly
infectious.
She estimated that as many as 70 per cent of injecting drug users in the
juvenile justice system would now test positive to hepatitis C.
The Adolescent Forensic Health Service and the Youth Substance Abuse Service
have each recommended in their submissions to the State Government's drug
advisory committee that a program which makes clean syringes available to
young prisoners be trialled.
The rate of hepatitis C infection among teenagers within Melbourne's
juvenile justice system has doubled over the past three years, according to
a major forensic health service funded by the Victorian Government.
The director of the Adolescent Forensic Health Service, Dr Friederike Veit,
said hepatitis C was rampant among the young inmates of the Melbourne
Juvenile Justice Centre, where more than 85 per cent of cases are
drug-related and most are injecting drug users.
The most recent testing for blood-borne viruses, in 1996, indicated 23 per
cent of the young men aged between 15 and 20 at the Melbourne Juvenile
Justice Centre - and 35 per cent of the injecting drug users - had hepatitis
C.
"But my impression is that it has doubled since then. The reason is that
it's rampant in the community. It's an epidemic," Dr Veit said. She said
there had also been a surge in the rate of hepatitis A infections in that
time.
It is a year since it emerged that an HIV-positive boy at the Malmsbury
Youth Training Centre had shared a needle with six other inmates (who later
tested negative), prompting the then Community Services Minister, Dr Denis
Napthine, to say he was prepared to consider needle exchange programs for
heroin addicts in custody. But such programs are yet to be introduced into a
custodial setting.
Dr Veit said the alarming spread of hepatitis C - which is rarely fatal on
its own but can lead to chronic liver disease, liver failure and cancer of
the liver - was partly explained by the growth in the number of young
teenagers who injected heroin, and by the fact that hepatitis C was highly
infectious.
She estimated that as many as 70 per cent of injecting drug users in the
juvenile justice system would now test positive to hepatitis C.
The Adolescent Forensic Health Service and the Youth Substance Abuse Service
have each recommended in their submissions to the State Government's drug
advisory committee that a program which makes clean syringes available to
young prisoners be trialled.
Member Comments |
No member comments available...
