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Seroepidemiology and Risk Factors Of Blood-Borne Virus Infections Among Drug Users in Uppsala County, Sweden
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Johan Hedlund1
Gunilla Ohlén1
Eva Lundell2
Kare Bondeson3
the Uppsala County Working Group Against Drug Dependency
Authors Info & Affiliations
Abstract
The prevalence, risk factors, and prevention opportunities of hepatitis A, B, C and HIV infection was studied in injecting drug users (IDUs) in comparison with non-injecting drug users (n-IDUs) in Uppsala County, Sweden.
The seroprevalence among IDUs were 0.7% for HIV, 19% for HAV, 26% for HBV and 63% for HCV. For hepatitis C, the seroprevalence was directly related to the number of years of injections. No cases of HIV were found among the n- IDUs and the seroprevalence rate was significantly lower for HBV and HCV, 6 and 2%, respectively. In contrast, the anti- HAV antibody seroprevalence was not significantly different between n-IDUs and IDUs (27% vs 19%, p< ns). There was no difference in vaccination uptake among IDUs compared with n-IDUs.
Hepatitis A and B vaccination should be considered as one component of a comprehensive programme including counselling, support and education of blood-borne infections associated with drug use.
