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HCV and HBV spreading more slowly among injection drug users in San Francisco
Date:9/5/2007

nt to HBV. However, those who had recently started injecting drugs had far lower rates. Only 47 percent of participants who had been injecting drugs for less than two years were infected with HCV, compared to 71 percent who had been using for 6-9 years. Comparable rates among the 1987 population were 76 percent and 91 percent.

For HBV, about 5 percent of the population had serologic evidence of vaccination against the virus. Among the others, 41 percent of those who had injected drugs for less than 2 years, and 57 percent of those who had been using for 6-9 years were infected. Comparable rates among the 1987 population were 45 percent and 80 percent.

Only 34 percent of the participants from 1998-2000 said they had shared syringes in the past 30 days, compared to about 59 percent who had done so in 1987.

Although the population examined in this study was not a random sample, and the authors had no way to pinpoint the reasons for the improvements over time, the reductions in infection rates the authors observed coincided with the institution of street-based outreach, HIV counseling and testing, and needle exchange programs.

The findings suggest that there is now a longer window of opportunity for interventions among this at-risk population. To reduce infection rates further, the authors suggest, it is also of paramount importance to reduce the number of people who start injection drug use and to make substance abuse treatment available to those who wish to stop.

The authors conclude, It is encouraging that the frequency of HCV and HBV appears to have decreased markedly among new initiates to injection drug use in the San Francisco Bay area. If the reductions in the prevalence of these infections can be sustained, the risk of end stage liver disease and liver cancer should decrease in this population.


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Contact: Amy Molnar
amolnar@wiley.com
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Source:Eurekalert

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