Seroepidemiology and Risk Factors Of Blood-Borne Virus Infections Among Drug Users in Uppsala County, Sweden
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Seroepidemiology and Risk Factors Of Blood-Borne Virus Infections Among Drug Users in Uppsala County, Sweden

The Open Infectious Diseases Journal 07 Oct 2008 RESEARCH ARTICLE DOI: 10.2174/1874279300802010027

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.