Drug Abuse Is Fuelling Rise In HCV Infections

Intravenous drug use is fuelling an upward rise in number of hepatitis C infections in the four Appalachian states of the US.

The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published on May 8 claims that the number of acute cases of HCV increased 364 percent in the four states viz. Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia during 2006-12 among persons aged under 30.

"Those affected were primarily non-Hispanic-white residents from both urban and nonurban areas, with more than double the rate of cases from nonurban areas," CDC said in the report.

During the same period the four states experienced an increase in the number of young adults being admitted for substance abuse, notably opioid abuse.

"The concomitant increase in the proportion of treatment admissions for prescription opioid abuse, heroin abuse, and the number of admitted patients who report injecting suggests that the increase in acute HCV infections in central Appalachia is highly correlated with the region's epidemic of prescription opioid abuse and facilitated by an upsurge in the number of persons who inject drugs in these four states," the agency noted in the report.