Certain Syringes More Likely To Spread Hepatitis C Virus Among Drug Users

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Certain Syringes More Likely To Spread Hepatitis C Virus Among Drug Users

By Yale School of Medicine

Feb 15, 2010 - 10:13:46 AM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - New Haven, Conn. – A Yale School of Medicine study

reveals that the high prevalence of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) among injection

drug users may be partly due to the resilience of the virus in certain types of

syringes. The study, which could open new avenues in preventing the spread of

HCV, will be the focus of a presentation and press conference at the 17th

Conference of Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections on Friday, February 19,

2010 at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco.

This is believed to be the first study establishing the survival of HCV in

contaminated syringes and the duration of potential infectiousness. HCV is

transmitted through blood-to-blood contact. There is currently no vaccine

against HCV, and treatments are problematic because of limited efficacy, high

cost and side effects. Untreated, HCV can cause severe liver disease and even

death. HCV infection from people sharing contaminated syringes is one of the

most common and predictable consequences of injection drug use.

The Yale team simulated the most common scenarios of injection drug use in order

to measure the longevity of the residual virus-blood mixture left in syringes

after injection. After loading blood spiked with HCV into various syringes and

depressing their plungers, researchers tested the residual blood for the

presence of infective HCV immediately and after storage for up nine weeks.

They observed a prolonged survival of HCV infection at all storage temperatures,

with viable amounts measured even at nine weeks in tuberculin syringes that have

detachable needles. They observed far less viable HCV in insulin syringes with

attached needles.

“This tells us that syringes with detachable needles are the most dangerous in

terms of potential HCV infection, because they are far more likely to transmit a

surviving virus,” said lead author Elijah Paintsil, M.D., assistant professor of

pediatrics and pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine.

The finding of prolonged HCV survival in detachable-needle syringes has greatest

implication outside of the Untied States, where use of these syringes is more

common. But it also has major health implications for cities and towns

everywhere, including the U.S., that offer needle-exchange programs. “These

programs often stress the importance of providing injection drug users with

syringes that meet their needs,” Paintsil said. “Our findings suggest that if

the goal is to reduce HCV transmission, these programs should discourage use of

detachable-needle syringes.”

Other authors are Huijie He, s, Brett D. Lindenbach and

Heimer of Yale School of Medicine. This study was funded by grants from the

National Institutes of Health, including a Clinical Translational Science Award

(CTSA) Grant from the National Center for Research Resources.