SPIKE IN HEPATITIS C CASES RAISES HIV FEARS

Health officials hope providing clean needles and crack pipes to
addicts will reduce an expected spike in the number of central
Vancouver Island residents who contract HIV.

A relatively high number of people suffering with hepatitis C in the
region could be a sign that a surge in HIV is on its way, said Dr.
Lorna Medd, medical health officer with the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

Central Vancouver Island's HIV rate was at 4.9 cases per 100,000 in
2008, well below the provincial rate of 7.9, according to BC Centre
for Disease Control statistics. But the region has among the highest
rates of hepatitis C in the province at 87.6. The B.C. rate was just
55.8 in 2008.

VIHA has said it plans on having sterile needles and other drug
paraphernalia available at front-line health care centres. About 12
sites in Nanaimo have been shortlisted, but final selections won't be
made until sometime this summer.

"The HIV rates tend to follow the Hep C rates," said Medd. "We think
we're in a window, and if we're able to get in with good harm
reduction support and safety supplies, we could prevent some cases of HIV."

Other social service providers are glad VIHA is looking at further
harm reduction strategies, but say more education and other supports
are needed to best tackle such problems. Both HIV and hepatitis C, a
virus that attacks the liver, can be spread by sharing needles and
crack-cocaine pipes.

Medd said that past experiences with areas such as Vancouver's
drug-riddled Downtown Eastside have shown health officials that when
hepatitis C cases are up, HIV cases are usually not far behind.
Often, there is a two-to-three-year lag before the two statistics stabilize.

"This is fairly new information that we have just gotten, so we don't
know how long the disparity has existed between Hep C infection rate,
and the HIV infection rate," said Medd, adding that the south and
north island areas aren't seeing the same disparity in HIV and
hepatitis C cases.

"We know that harm reduction works and it does prevent those cases.
We're trying to work it through in a way that fits in the community."

Dennis Ano, a health nurse at Tillicum Haus Native Friendship Centre
in Nanaimo, agrees that harm reduction strategies are effective but
stressed that more education is needed.

"A lot of people assume that the only way they can get it [HIV] is
through sharing of needles," he said. Crack users can also spread
disease by sharing their pipes, since smoking the drug can result in
cracked lips that can bleed.

"Nobody's invincible. It's out there and people need to be aware of it."

Gord Cote, director for NARSF Programs, which delivers harm reduction
programs, said truly addressing the spread of communicable diseases
goes beyond providing clean pipes and needles.

"It's a broader community health context for prevention and housing
is a critical factor for that," he said.