'Shared banknote' health warning to cocaine users

Posted October 3, 2006 · October 3, 2006

By Veevers

Published: 01 October 2006

Experts are warning of a potential " health time bomb " from drug users

snorting cocaine through banknotes, threatening to infect thousands with

hepatitis C.

They fear that the sharing of banknotes by cocaine users will cause the

numbers of those infected with hepatitis C to soar. They are particularly

concerned because eight out of 10 carriers don't know they have the virus.

The disease is carried through the blood, and users can easily fail to

notice small traces of blood on their banknotes, which are then passed

around a group. Without treatment, hepatitis C can lead to chronic liver

disease.

The Department of Health estimates that there are 200,000 people infected

with hepatitis C in Britain, but the Hepatitis C Trust fears the number

could be much higher.

Gore, the chief executive of the trust, said: " Estimates show that

around 5,000 new cases of hepatitis C are diagnosed every year - but they

are mainly through chance. Because so many are undiagnosed we can't tell

what kind of problem we are looking at. When 5,000 banknotes were tested in

London [in 2000], 99 per cent of them had traces of cocaine on them. That

tells us that there is potentially a massive problem in diagnosis and

people's awareness of how easily hepatitis C can be contracted.

" We are concerned that if more is not done to alert people to the dangers of

sharing, then what is already a big problem risks being turned into a health

time bomb. "

Professor Graham , of St 's Hospital, London, said: " Sharing

banknotes or straws is a significant risk factor that people need to be more

aware of . Although the risk of contracting hepatitis C through snorting is

lower than through sharing a needle, it is still there. "

He added: " We can detect levels of hepatitis C for weeks after it has been

on a surface, [but] infectious levels will only remain for a few hours,

maybe more. "

The trust has set up a campaign entitled What Not to Share, and is asking

for donations to mark World Hepatitis Awareness Day today.

THE FACTS

* According to the latest Home Office figures 750,000 Britons take cocaine

every year.

* In an American study last year 4.7 per cent of people who sniffed or

snorted cocaine or heroin tested positive for hepatitis C.

* There is no vaccine for the hepatitis C virus.

* Cocaine costs around £30 per gram. According to health charity Drug Scope

it's cheapest in Liverpool and Birmingham.