Needle-sharing problem grew after fixed exchange closed, researchers say

Trends in injecting drug use in Europe (EMCDDA)

Injecting drug use has a long history in Europe but it was in the early 1980s, with the rapid growth of intravenous heroin use and the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), that this behaviour gained prominence as a core element of Europe’s drug problem. Not only did injecting levels increase dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s (1), many European countries also saw a rapid increase in the number of HIV infections among drug users, resulting in increased numbers of deaths due to AIDS.

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Hepatitis C: Silent but deadly

A million people in the UK die each year from hepatitis C, but many don’t even know they are sufferers. Now the stars turn the spotlight on this stealthy killer

Petra Wright from Bo’ness, a middle-aged, married marketing officer for a financial services company, is the last person you might expect to have hepatitis C. Her GP certainly thought so, but when Wright asked for a test it came back positive. “My GP said if she had been asked to target people in the practice to test, there’s no way she would’ve picked me,” she says. Wright is one of up to 466,000 people living with the infection in the UK, only around 100,000 of whom have been diagnosed. Worldwide there are 500 million people (one in 12) with hepatitis B or C, more than ten times the number infected with HIV/Aids.

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DEREGULATION OF NEEDLE AND SYRINGE PROVISION TO IMPROVE DISTRIBUTION AND ACCESS TO STERILE INJECTING EQUIPMENT IN NEW SOUTH WALES

The NSW Users & AIDS Association (NUAA) is the state New South Wales peer-based drug user organisation. Through our direct experience and through our close contact with communities of people who inject drugs (PWID), we are able to provide government, services, media and the broader community with a ‘drug user’ perspective on a range of issues in relation to illicit drug use and the prevention of the transmission of blood-borne viruses, including HIV and hepatitis C.

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Health worries prompt plan for needle vending machines in portsmouth

Syringes could be dispensed in vending machines to combat rocketing levels of Hepatitis C among drug addicts. A needle exchange service already operates in Portsmouth.

But officials hope to improve access to syringes to cut needle sharing.One idea is vending machines at places such as pharmacies, hostels and drug centres.Addicts could walk in, enter a code or a token and get a clean needle.

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Do Needle-Exchange Programs Really Work?

The evidence that needle and syringe programs (NSPs) are effective in preventing HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) is weaker than acknowledged in the current scientific literature, a new analysis of research suggests. The new review of English-language literature to March 2007 included for analysis three high-quality “core” reviews and two supplementary ones.
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Australian prisons to be supplied sterile needles

Australia Jails ‘a source’ of blood-borne diseases

Australia’s jails are a major source of new blood-borne infection, a harm reduction group says in a call for a controlled needle exchange for inmates. Bans on prisoners possessing drugs and syringes have failed to stop their now commonplace use behind prison walls, says The Association for Prevention and Harm Reduction Programs Australia (Anex).

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United Nations : Responding to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases among drug users

The present report has been prepared pursuant to Commission on Narcotic Drugs resolution 49/4, entitled “Responding to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases among drug users”. It contains an overview of the technical assistance provided by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to Member States in developing comprehensive demand reduction strategies and measures, including HIV/AIDS prevention and care in the context of drug abuse.

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Certain Syringes More Likely To Spread Hepatitis C Virus Among Drug Users

A Yale School of Medicine study reveals that the high prevalence of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) among injection drug users may be partly due to the resilience of the virus in certain types of syringes. The study, which could open new avenues in preventing the spread of HCV, will be the focus of a presentation and press conference at the 17th Conference of Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections on Friday, February 19, 2010 at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco.
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