Journal article
Hepatitis B virus exposure and vaccination in a cohort of people who inject drugs: What has been the impact of targeted free vaccination?
RJ Winter, PM Dietze, M Gouillou, ME Hellard, P Robinson, CK Aitken
Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Australia | WILEY | Published : 2013
DOI: 10.1111/jgh.12063
Abstract
Background and Aim: Forty percent of new hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections in Australia occur in people who inject drugs (PWID); long-term infection carries the risk of serious liver disease. HBV incidence among Australian PWID has not been measured since the advent of targeted (2001) and adolescent school-based "catch-up" (1998) vaccination programs. We measured HBV incidence and prevalence in a cohort of PWID in Melbourne, Australia and examined demographic and behavioral correlates of exposure and vaccination. Methods: Community-recruited PWID were surveyed about blood-borne virus risk behaviors and their sera tested for HBV markers approximately three-monthly over three years. Incidence..
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Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Awarded by NHMRC
Awarded by NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence on Injecting Drug Use
Funding Acknowledgements
This project was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (no. 331312). Rebecca Winter is supported by an NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship (no. 603756) and the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence on Injecting Drug Use (no. 1001144). Margaret Hellard is supported by an NHMRC Fellowship (no. 281321 & 543135). Paul Dietze is supported by an NHMRC Career Development Award (no. 398504). Thanks to the Networks II fieldworkers for assistance with data collection. The authors also acknowledge the extensive work undertaken by the Victorian Infectious Diseases Laboratory (VIDRL) in running serological tests for the Networks II study. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution to this work of the Victorian Operational Infrastructure Support Program.