Rapid decline in HCV incidence among people who inject drugs associated with national scale-up in coverage of a combination of harm reduction interventions.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Government policy has precipitated recent changes in the provision of harm reduction interventions - injecting equipment provision (IEP) and opiate substitution therapy (OST) - for people who inject drugs (PWID) in Scotland. We sought to examine the potential impact of these changes on hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission among PWID.

Methods and findings

We used a framework to triangulate different types of evidence: 'group-level/ecological' and 'individual-level'. Evidence was primarily generated from bio-behavioural cross-sectional surveys of PWID, undertaken during 2008-2012. Individuals in the window period (1-2 months) where the virus is present, but antibodies have not yet been formed, were considered to have recent infection. The survey data were supplement

SUBMITTER: Palmateer NE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4128763 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature