A review of risk behaviours, transmission and prevention of blood borne viral infections in Australian prisons

Abstract

HIV was first detected in Australian injecting drug users (IDUs) in the early 1980s (Blacker et al., 1985). Despite early and extensive spread among the male homosexual community there has been little transmission among IDUs, among whom prevalence has remained below five per cent (MacDonald et al., 1997). Of a total of 659 people newly diagnosed with HIV infection in 1997, only 23 (3.5 per cent) reported injecting drug use as a risk factor, while another 24 reported injecting drug use as well as homosexual contact (NCHECR, 1998). This is remarkable given that current estimates of the number of IDUs in Australia ranges from 100,000 to 150,000 (ANCARD, 1998). Control of hepatitis C virus infec..