DRUG INJECTION FUELLING HEP C EPIDEMIC

An increase in the number of injecting drug users was turning hepatitis C
into a national epidemic with thousands of new infections each year,
according to a specialist.

Writing in the Medical Journal of Australia, Professor Robert Batey of
Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital said more than 150,000 Australians were
known to be infected with hep C and there were an estimated 11,000 new
infections each year.

He said the escalating rates of infection had enormous consequences for
Australia's health care system in years to come.

The hep C virus was first identified in Australia in 1989.

"In the ensuing years hepatitis C has become a national epidemic," he said.

"The rate of infection is increasing, in large part, because an increasing
number of young people are choosing to commence injecting drug use."

In particular, many young people were refusing to engage in safe injecting
practices in early phases of drug use, Prof Batey said.

The availability and effectiveness of treatment for hep C was also
"problematic" Professor Batey said, despite inroads in understanding the
disease and the development of a national strategy.

Professor Batey said more attention needed to be directed at reducing the
spread of HIV among injecting drug users.

He also called for more funding and research to boost current efforts to
develop a vaccine.

According to the Australian National Council on AIDS Hepatitis C and
Related Diseases (ANCAHRD), hep C is the most commonly notified
communicable disease in Australia withy 91 per cent of all new infections
related to sharing injecting drug equipment.

According to ANCAHRD, 80 per cent of hep C infections in Australia are due
to sharing drug injecting equipment.

Infection is also possible through dental procedures, tattooing or body
piercing, needle-stick injuries or mother-to-child transmission during
pregnancy and delivery.

A recent report on hepatitis-C related discrimination by the NSW
Anti-Discrimination Board found Australia still had a long way to go in
dealing with the disease in a caring and rational way.

"The report highlights the disturbing reality that most discriminatory
actions against people infected with HIV are perpetrated in health care
settings," Professor Batey noted.