Ireland: The psychological effects of hepatitis C: 'It was a dirty and uneasy feeling and it began to haunt me'

It was in the early noughties when I first got my bloods tested. I wasn't even thinking about hepatitis C at that time, that wasn't on my radar at all. To be honest, I only got tested because a number of other people in the methadone clinic I attended at that time were getting tested. I had no idea that test would turn out to be the turning point in my life and the reality check that I needed.

At this point, my lifestyle was chaotic. This was down to my misuse of drugs and the type of life that comes with taking that path.

My issues with addiction started very early on, when I was 14. Like many others from my area at the time, peer pressure to do drugs was a big issue - like many teenagers I suffered from low self-esteem and drugs were an appealing way to 'fit in'.

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Injection Drug Use Fuels Rise In Hepatitis C Cases

May 26, 2015 4:22 PM ET

Kristin Gourlay 

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The rise in injection drug use across the country, especially the eastern U.S., is fueling an outbreak of hepatitis C. Outreach workers are offering clean needles and testing to contain the spread.

Source:  http://www.npr.org/2015/05/26/409804741/injection-drug-use-fuels-rise-in-hepatitis-c-cases

Doctors say needle sharing could trigger hepatitis C outbreak

"I shared a needle with him once," Barnes said.  And that was all it took.

WOODBURY, TN (WSMV) -The number of heroin addicts is on the rise, and it's not just a problem for the addicts. Doctors fear it could trigger an outbreak of hepatitis C.

"I was on methadone for years, oxycontin, meth, amphetamines," said Clayton Barnes, an addict and hepatitis C patient from Kentucky.

But heroin is the one addiction that would change Barnes' life forever, landing the 26-year-old at Addiction Campuses' treatment center in Woodbury.

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Australia: Aboriginal Hepatitis C rising, prompting calls for improved services

As rates of the disease decrease among Australians overall, Hepatitis C is three times higher and rising in Indigenous populations.

Mainstream medical services are failing Aboriginal communities, where the rate of Hepatitis C is rising, a peak Aboriginal health body has told a federal Senate inquiry.

A public hearing in Sydney on Thursday heard submissions from stakeholders, including the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (Naccho), which called for improved access and funding of medical services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

As rates of the disease decrease among Australians overall, Hepatitis C is three times higher and rising in Indigenous populations, according to a 2013 study by the Kirby Institute. The worsening problem is mainly due to higher rates of unsafe drug injecting and possibly higher rates of incarceration, where the prevalence of intravenous drug use is much higher among Indigenous prisoners, according to multiple studies.

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