Bloodborne virus infections among drug users in Ireland: a retrospective cross-sectional survey of screening, prevalence, incidence and hepatitis B immunisation uptake

Abstract

The proportion of clients screened for HCV, HBV and HIV infection has increased since the introduction of a screening protocol in 1998. Targeted vaccination for opiate users against hepatitis B is more successful than previously shown in Ireland. The prevalence and incidence of bloodborne viruses remains high among opiate users attending addiction treatment services, despite an increase in availability of harm reduction interventions.

Exploring patient characteristics and barriers to Hepatitis C treatment in patients on opioid substitution treatment attending a community based fibro-scanning clinic

“…[37][38][39][40][41] In Ireland, an estimated 20,000-50,000 people have been exposed to HCV infection, giving a prevalence rate of 1-2%. [42] Most recent prevalence data of HCV in the Irish PWID population ranges from 62-81% [42,43] with risk factors similar to those reported elsewhere. These are injecting drug use, [42,[43][44][45][46][47] frequency and length of time injecting, [45,48,49] needle sharing and having a history of imprisonment.…”

“…[42] Most recent prevalence data of HCV in the Irish PWID population ranges from 62-81% [42,43] with risk factors similar to those reported elsewhere. These are injecting drug use, [42,[43][44][45][46][47] frequency and length of time injecting, [45,48,49] needle sharing and having a history of imprisonment. [45] Low uptake of screening and follow up assessments are also reported .…”

Hepatitis C virus seroprevalence and prevalence of chronic infection in the adult population in Ireland: a study of residual sera, April 2014 to February 2016

“…Ireland is believed to be a low-prevalence country for HCV, and prior studies that measured the HCV seroprevalence in selected high-risk or localised populations, and in antenatal women [ 11 - 16 ], support this view; however, no national HCV prevalence studies in the general population have been conducted and the true burden of infection is unknown. We undertook a national cross-sectional study to estimate HCV seroprevalence and prevalence of HCV chronic infection among the adult population in Ireland.…”

Determination of the burden of hepatitis C virus infection in Ireland

“…Opiate use increased substantially in Dublin in the late 1970s and early 1980s and lower prices precipitated a second epidemic in the 1990s [5,6]. Studies of injecting drug users (IDUs) in prisons and drug users attending methadone clinics, specialist addiction treatment centres and general practitioners (GPs) have estimated the HCV antibody prevalence in this population to be between 50 % and 84 % [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. A capture-recapture study estimated the number of opiate users in Ireland in 2006 to be 20 790 [17].…”