Latest Shooting Up report has an HIV focus and is published on the HPA Website.

The latest instalment of the annual Shooting up report has been published by the Health protection agency (HPA) and is focussed on HIV infection

The report starts with a timely reminder of the list of bacteria and viruses that are particularly important when considering intravenous drug abusers (IVDA), these include, Clostridium botulinum, Grp A streptococci and potentially community acquired MRSA as well as viral agents such as HIV and Hepatitis C.

The report states that the prevalence of HIV amongst IVDU is quite low with rates of 4.1% in London and 0.6% in Scotland and are at a level 1.5% across the UK. It was also noted HIV prevalence in IVDU has increase from 0.7 to 1.5% in the last decade returning to levels seen in the early 1990s. On a personal note I wonder if we have lost the momentum in getting the message across to the public at large?

Returning to the report there has been an increase in the uptake of HIV testing with up to three quarters of IVDUs report having had a test and about a third of IVDU patients still not aware of their status.  A large proportion of HIV positive IVDU patients are involved with specialist treatment services.

A number of IVDU patients report being infected with Hepatitis C (numbers equated to about a half of patients), whereas around a sixth presented with Hepatitis B infection. Bacterial infections such as sores or abscess were reported in approximately one patient in three. On a more positive note needle and syringe sharing appears to have generally fallen but still almost one in five patients reported the sharing of either syringes or needles.

  

One thing the report highlights is a continued need for education and investigation into sharing of needles and paraphernalia that increases the risk of the patient to potentially serious infections that may well be life threatening. We need to maintain and develop surveillance to inform decisions that feed into UK policy making.

More detail can be seen on the HPA Website (http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpr/archives/2010/news4410.htm#idus09)