Letters Page #742

Subject: RE: #655, Hep B & C
From: ajbyrne@ozemail.com.au
Date: Jan. 16, 1999

Dear Cat Fan,

Hepatitis C was not easily detected until about 1991, so a lot of people had 'negative' intake blood tests simply because there was no test available for it.

It is true that around 90% of injectors may be hepatitis C virus (HCV) positive by now. With clean needles becoming available and care taken with hygiene, this should start dropping although this has not been shown as yet.

While HIV/AIDS transmission seems to almost stop in patients who start methadone treatment, this is not the case with HCV. It is a much more resilient virus and appears to be more contagious. Its spread may involve other means such as droplets, skin, eyes or even tourniquets etcetera. We still do not know. But it very often seems to involve blood somewhere.

I hope this helps,

Andrew Byrne

Dr Andrew Byrne,
General Practitioner, Drug and Alcohol,
75 Redfern Street,
Redfern,
New South Wales, 2016,
Australia
Tel (61 - 2) 9319 5524 Fax 9318 0631
Email ajbyrne@ozemail.com.au

Author of: "Methadone in the Treatment of Narcotic Addiction" and "Addict in the Family".