Needle-sharing 1 cause of infection

Yomiuri Shimbun

There is a higher concentration of hepatitis C virus victims in Kyushu,
Chugoku, Kansai and other western parts of Japan than the rest of the
country.

This can be attributed, in part, to the postwar emergence in these
regions
of a core group of methamphetamine users sharing needles. HCV can be
transmitted through a number of infection routes other than tainted
blood
products.

The infection is believed to have spread around the country through
inappropriate medical practices, such as the transfusion of tainted
blood
and reusing needles in mass immunization programs.

The Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry on Thursday disclosed a list of
medical facilities that are believed to have administered fibrinogen, a
blood coagulant tainted with hepatitis viruses, to patients.

One town in Hiroshima Prefecture has attracted the attention of medical
researchers since the late 1990s because it had an unusually large
number
of HCV and liver cancer patients. An analysis of death certificates
there
revealed that many people developed liver cancer from HCV.

Between 1998 and 2002, 76.3 men and 24.6 women per 100,000 residents
died
of liver cancer in the town as compared with the national average of
38.3
men and 16.3 women per 100,000. However, the researchers have not been
able
to determine why.

Taking the situation seriously, the town government in 1999 started
providing hepatitis tests to residents on request. If they were found
to be
infected, health experts would visit the residents to explain the
disease
and its treatment.

The 58-year-old director of the town's health center, who is charged
with
countermeasures against hepatitis, is herself a HCV carrier. She
probably
became infected with the virus when she was a high school student and
was
given a blood transfusion after vomiting blood, she said.

Later, she became a health care worker. In those days, a doctor would
use
the same syringe to vaccinate 10 people, cleaning the needle before
every
shot with a surgical swab. "That was not unusual in the past," she
recalled.

In 1958, the government instructed doctors to use a new needle for
every
patient, but the direction was not followed strictly in some regions of
the
country. The government did not instruct doctors to use a new syringe
for
every injection until 1988.

During the period following the end of World War II, many people
injected a
stimulant drug called Hiropon, sharing needles and syringes. They
eventually formed a core group of HCV carriers that later became a
basis
for the nationwide outbreak of the disease.

Source URL:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20041211wo27.htm


Yomiuri Shimbun

There is a higher concentration of hepatitis C virus victims in Kyushu,
Chugoku, Kansai and other western parts of Japan than the rest of the
country.

This can be attributed, in part, to the postwar emergence in these
regions
of a core group of methamphetamine users sharing needles. HCV can be
transmitted through a number of infection routes other than tainted
blood
products.

The infection is believed to have spread around the country through
inappropriate medical practices, such as the transfusion of tainted
blood
and reusing needles in mass immunization programs.

The Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry on Thursday disclosed a list of
medical facilities that are believed to have administered fibrinogen, a
blood coagulant tainted with hepatitis viruses, to patients.

One town in Hiroshima Prefecture has attracted the attention of medical
researchers since the late 1990s because it had an unusually large
number
of HCV and liver cancer patients. An analysis of death certificates
there
revealed that many people developed liver cancer from HCV.

Between 1998 and 2002, 76.3 men and 24.6 women per 100,000 residents
died
of liver cancer in the town as compared with the national average of
38.3
men and 16.3 women per 100,000. However, the researchers have not been
able
to determine why.

Taking the situation seriously, the town government in 1999 started
providing hepatitis tests to residents on request. If they were found
to be
infected, health experts would visit the residents to explain the
disease
and its treatment.

The 58-year-old director of the town's health center, who is charged
with
countermeasures against hepatitis, is herself a HCV carrier. She
probably
became infected with the virus when she was a high school student and
was
given a blood transfusion after vomiting blood, she said.

Later, she became a health care worker. In those days, a doctor would
use
the same syringe to vaccinate 10 people, cleaning the needle before
every
shot with a surgical swab. "That was not unusual in the past," she
recalled.

In 1958, the government instructed doctors to use a new needle for
every
patient, but the direction was not followed strictly in some regions of
the
country. The government did not instruct doctors to use a new syringe
for
every injection until 1988.

During the period following the end of World War II, many people
injected a
stimulant drug called Hiropon, sharing needles and syringes. They
eventually formed a core group of HCV carriers that later became a
basis
for the nationwide outbreak of the disease.

Source URL:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20041211wo27.htm




Sandra Tara Balduf (Ane)

Frontline Hepatitis Awareness

Support for patients and educational materials

http://frontline-hepatitis-awareness.com

1-866-Hep-GoGo 866-437-4646




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