WHEELING — Four Northern Panhandle counties are among 220 nationwide
deemed most vulnerable to HIV and hepatitis C infections in people who
inject drugs.
An analysis report prepared for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists Hancock, Brooke, Marshall and Tyler counties among 28 West Virginia counties considered most vulnerable for rapid spread of these infections.
No counties in East Ohio are on the list. The Buckeye State has 11 counties — all clustered in southern Ohio — on the CDC vulnerability list.
Of the 220 counties cited for vulnerability, Hancock ranks 49th in the nation. Brooke is 76th, Tyler is 162nd and Marshall is 182nd.
Health officials in the four counties said they have not seen the CDC report. They expressed concern, but not surprise, at the rankings.
Jackie Huff, administrator of the Hancock County Health Department, believes misuse of drugs in the county could influence its rating.
“We’re working toward that as a community trying to address (drug abuse),” she said. “It’s going to take a community to fix the drug problems.”
She said the health department offers Narcan training, with an educational component and links to behavioral health specialists to address addiction issues.
“We do weekly testing (for HIV and hepatitis C) offered for the community to determine if there is that type of problem,” Huff added.
Brooke County Health Department Administrator Michael Bolen said the county’s presence on the list doesn’t surprise him, due to the drug problems in the area.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily specific to Brooke County. In the state, we are seeing an increase in hepatitis C infection,” he said.
Bolen said there are ongoing efforts in the county to change residents’ drug-related habits.
“We are researching needle exchange programs as well as some other things to address that,” he said.
In Wetzel and Tyler counties, residents are encouraged to get free testing for hepatitis and HIV, according to Karen Cain, administrator of the counties’ combined health department.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Cain said of Wetzel and Tyler counties’ rankings on the vulnerability list. “I know there is a lot of IV use in this county and a lot of hepatitis C.”
As for lessening infection from dirty syringes among IV drug users, Cain said, “We had talked about doing a needle exchange. The county would have to foot that bill themselves. We would get no help from the state for that. We would have to buy our supplies. Now that they (lawmakers) have cut our budget 25 percent, that limits it even more.”
Dara Pond, administrator of the Marshall County Health Department said she didn’t want to comment on specifics without seeing the report, but noted substance abuse continues to be a concern in the Northern Panhandle.
One North-Central West Virginia county, Taylor, and two in the Eastern Panhandle, Morgan and Berkeley, are also on the list. The remaining 21 counties are located in the central and southern parts of the state.
The CDC’s national assessment identifies areas of the United States that might be vulnerable to HIV and hepatitis C outbreaks if those viruses are introduced into networks of people who inject drugs.
The report was published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
“During the past decade, the U.S. opioid epidemic has fueled an increase in illicit, unsterile injection drug use (IDU) and new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, especially within non-urban communities,” the report states.
The report noted that the counties vulnerable to drug abuse-related infection are “overwhelmingly rural.” Since 2006, rates of acute hepatitis C infection have increased faster in rural than urban areas, as infection has spread into populations made newly vulnerable by the expansion of injection drug use in rural America.
“Unemployment and income were also significantly associated with the risk for acute HCV infection,” the report states. “Since the Great U.S. Recession of 2007-2009, rural areas have experienced persistent and greater unemployment and poverty than urban areas.”
In 2014, for the first time, injection of prescription opioids was linked to an outbreak of HIV infections in a rural U.S. community, Austin, Ind.
“This event raised concerns about the vulnerability of similar communities to the rapid spread of HIV infection if introduced into a network of persons who inject drugs,” the report states.
Study participants included data on acute hepatitis C infections from the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System in 2012 and 2013. The number of cases reported were 1,778 in 2012 and 2,138 in 2013.
Investigators said they considered six potential indicators in compiling the report: drug-overdose mortality, access to prescription opioids, access to care, drug-related criminal activity, prevalence of injection drug use and socio-demographic characteristics associated with geographic areas with higher injection drug use.
The demographic profile of people who inject drugs and people diagnosed with acute hepatitis C have changed substantially in recent years. According to the report, people diagnosed with the virus “now are equally likely to be male as female (and) are predominately of white, non-Hispanic race/ethnicity and (of) younger age.”
An analysis report prepared for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists Hancock, Brooke, Marshall and Tyler counties among 28 West Virginia counties considered most vulnerable for rapid spread of these infections.
No counties in East Ohio are on the list. The Buckeye State has 11 counties — all clustered in southern Ohio — on the CDC vulnerability list.
Of the 220 counties cited for vulnerability, Hancock ranks 49th in the nation. Brooke is 76th, Tyler is 162nd and Marshall is 182nd.
Health officials in the four counties said they have not seen the CDC report. They expressed concern, but not surprise, at the rankings.
Jackie Huff, administrator of the Hancock County Health Department, believes misuse of drugs in the county could influence its rating.
“We’re working toward that as a community trying to address (drug abuse),” she said. “It’s going to take a community to fix the drug problems.”
She said the health department offers Narcan training, with an educational component and links to behavioral health specialists to address addiction issues.
“We do weekly testing (for HIV and hepatitis C) offered for the community to determine if there is that type of problem,” Huff added.
Brooke County Health Department Administrator Michael Bolen said the county’s presence on the list doesn’t surprise him, due to the drug problems in the area.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily specific to Brooke County. In the state, we are seeing an increase in hepatitis C infection,” he said.
Bolen said there are ongoing efforts in the county to change residents’ drug-related habits.
“We are researching needle exchange programs as well as some other things to address that,” he said.
In Wetzel and Tyler counties, residents are encouraged to get free testing for hepatitis and HIV, according to Karen Cain, administrator of the counties’ combined health department.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Cain said of Wetzel and Tyler counties’ rankings on the vulnerability list. “I know there is a lot of IV use in this county and a lot of hepatitis C.”
As for lessening infection from dirty syringes among IV drug users, Cain said, “We had talked about doing a needle exchange. The county would have to foot that bill themselves. We would get no help from the state for that. We would have to buy our supplies. Now that they (lawmakers) have cut our budget 25 percent, that limits it even more.”
Dara Pond, administrator of the Marshall County Health Department said she didn’t want to comment on specifics without seeing the report, but noted substance abuse continues to be a concern in the Northern Panhandle.
One North-Central West Virginia county, Taylor, and two in the Eastern Panhandle, Morgan and Berkeley, are also on the list. The remaining 21 counties are located in the central and southern parts of the state.
The CDC’s national assessment identifies areas of the United States that might be vulnerable to HIV and hepatitis C outbreaks if those viruses are introduced into networks of people who inject drugs.
The report was published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
“During the past decade, the U.S. opioid epidemic has fueled an increase in illicit, unsterile injection drug use (IDU) and new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, especially within non-urban communities,” the report states.
The report noted that the counties vulnerable to drug abuse-related infection are “overwhelmingly rural.” Since 2006, rates of acute hepatitis C infection have increased faster in rural than urban areas, as infection has spread into populations made newly vulnerable by the expansion of injection drug use in rural America.
“Unemployment and income were also significantly associated with the risk for acute HCV infection,” the report states. “Since the Great U.S. Recession of 2007-2009, rural areas have experienced persistent and greater unemployment and poverty than urban areas.”
In 2014, for the first time, injection of prescription opioids was linked to an outbreak of HIV infections in a rural U.S. community, Austin, Ind.
“This event raised concerns about the vulnerability of similar communities to the rapid spread of HIV infection if introduced into a network of persons who inject drugs,” the report states.
Study participants included data on acute hepatitis C infections from the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System in 2012 and 2013. The number of cases reported were 1,778 in 2012 and 2,138 in 2013.
Investigators said they considered six potential indicators in compiling the report: drug-overdose mortality, access to prescription opioids, access to care, drug-related criminal activity, prevalence of injection drug use and socio-demographic characteristics associated with geographic areas with higher injection drug use.
The demographic profile of people who inject drugs and people diagnosed with acute hepatitis C have changed substantially in recent years. According to the report, people diagnosed with the virus “now are equally likely to be male as female (and) are predominately of white, non-Hispanic race/ethnicity and (of) younger age.”
No comments:
Post a Comment