BITTEN OFFICER IN 'SCARY' WAIT

Health: Three Months Before Policewoman Bitten by Drug-User Will Get
Hepatitis C News

A Christchurch policewoman faces a three-month wait to find out if she
has contracted the potentially fatal hepatitis C virus after being
bitten while making an arrest.

Constable Gina Cameron, 29, was bitten on the wrist as she and her
colleagues were breaking up a fight in the central city early on
Sunday. Police say the woman who allegedly bit her is a drug-user
infected with the disease.

Ms Cameron was treated by a police doctor and will have blood tests
this week but it can take up to three months for the virus to show
up.

Yesterday the 29-year-old was back at work but admitted the wait was
"pretty scary".

"It's a bit hard to get my head around but I'll just plough on and see
what happens."

Some people infected with hepatitis C can process the virus out of
their system without experiencing problems, and many can be cured with
combination drug therapy.

But in others the virus remains in the body and can cause fatal liver
damage.

About 25,000 New Zealanders have hepatitis C, and there are 1300 new
infections a year.

About 84 per cent of the 19,000 users of injected drugs are infected
with the disease.

Sunday's incident was the most serious attack on a Christchurch police
officer since the introduction of Operation Earlybird, which involves
beat cops in teams of six patrolling a small area of central
Christchurch every Sunday between 4am and 7am.

The patrol was developed after a police recruit was attacked by a
"drunken mob" who stole his hat, handcuffs, baton and notebook late
one night in February.

Operation Earlybird has made 183 arrests, mainly on drunk and
disorderly or assault-type offences.

Senior Sergeant Colin Campbell, who runs the Christchurch beat cop
section, said the early-morning patrol had immediately curbed the
number of serious assaults on police, but also had other statistical
benefits.

Arrests for wilful damage in the central city had decreased by 71 per
cent and 40 per cent fewer robbery charges were laid than in the same
time-frame last year.

Serious attacks on police officers around the country are not
rare.

In the past year there have been more than 2000.

Of those, 84 involved a weapon.

[sidebar]

Hepatitis C

* Hepatitis C, which can cause fatal liver disease, has no sure-fire
cure.

* 25,000 New Zealanders are infected.

* Baywatch star Pamela Anderson is being treated for the
disease.

* It is usually passed on through blood or needles, although there is
also a small risk of contracting the virus through unprotected sex and
kissing.