Outbreak of hepatitis C investigated

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http://www.hastingsstargazette.com/event/article/id/23214/group/homepage/

Published September 23 2010

Outbreak of hepatitis C investigated

By: Chad , The Hastings Star-Gazette

An outbreak of hepatitis C in the Hastings area has fanned concerns here about

the use of heroin by young adults in Hastings. Over the summer, the Minnesota

Department of Health learned that 12 Hastings-area residents were diagnosed with

the disease. More often than not, the disease is spread by sharing drug needles.

The 12 residents range in age from 16 to 26.

A total of 16 cases were reported in Dakota County during the first half of

2009. In all of 2008, there were eight cases.

“We know that of the 16 cases in this cluster, at least nine reported injection

drug use,” said Doug Schultz, a spokesperson for the department of health. “Most

cases of hepatitis C are probably the result of sharing injection drug needles.”

Dakota County has seen a significant increase in the amount of heroin-related

cases. Heroin is typically injected with needles.

“It is very unusual for us to identify a cluster like this,” Schultz said.

“Since we did, it was important we do what we could to prevent further

transmission. The good news is that we haven’t identified any other cases since

August.”

Schultz, who lives in Hastings and has a daughter at the high school, was

alarmed to learn of the outbreak.

“In some ways, what is more concerning, especially for me, is to realize that

there is injection drug use here,” he said. “We know that there has been an

increase in heroin use among teens since 2000. It has increased in supply and

decreased in cost.”

Schultz said that since 2000, heroin-related deaths in Minnesota have also been

on the rise.

For Dakota County Sheriff Dave Bellows, heroin is becoming an all-too-familiar

problem. In 2009, the county had 42 heroin-related arrests, a number that

triples the figure from 2008. The county also seized more than a pound of heroin

in 2009, way up from 2008.

Three kinds of heroin have been appearing in Dakota County. There’s white

heroin, brown heroin and black tar heroin. Much of it comes from Mexico, Bellows

said.

Drug enforcement agents are seeing that the heroin arriving here these days is

very pure.

“We are seeing these individuals putting a very high grade, very pure, heroin

into their bodies,” he said. “It’s very deadly. Using heroin in any circumstance

is deadly, but this pure heroin has a very high risk to it.”

In the matter of the 12 area residents, they had no idea they had the disease

until they were tested for it.

“Most often, with hepatitis C, there are no outward symptoms,” Schultz said.

“You only know you have it if you screened for it and get tested for it. People

who have injected drugs should get tested for it.”

The 12 area patients are under medical care, Schultz said.

“We have been able to identify who most of the patients are,” he said. “We’ve

talked to them, and to their contacts about getting tested to determine if they

need antiviral treatment. In this situation, there is no risk to the general

public. It can’t be passed easily from one person to the other.”

There are other ways to contract the disease, Schultz said. Healthcare workers

who get inadvertent needle pricks are at risk, and it is possible that it can be

passed through sexual activity and by sharing things like razors that may have

blood on them.

The disease often times goes unnoticed as there may not be any outward symptoms

at first. The disease affects the liver. The virus persists in approximately 85

percent of those who contract it. Of those, roughly half are cured. The others

suffer from cirrhosis, which could lead to liver failure or liver cancer.

The drug cycle

A few years ago, the drug of choice among young people was meth, Bellows said.

“Several years ago, everybody was talking about one thing, and that was meth,”

he said. “We attacked that from the standpoint of enforcement and we attacked it

with education. The other piece that I think really had a good effect in terms

of eliminating the labs was the law that put pseudoephedrines behind the

counter.”

Bellows said there were 28 meth labs busted in 2006-07 and none last year.

“There’s a significant drop in meth labs,” Bellows said.

Drug use, Bellows said, is cyclical. It was meth a few years ago, it is heroin

now and he suspects that in three to four years, there will be a new drug of

choice.

“It’s just commonplace to see one drug take over for another,” he said.

Schultz said the state’s strategy is to reach out to the target population to

give them as much information as possible.

“There’s still a need for drug education in the schools,” he said. “Telling kids

about hepatitis C needs to be one of the messages. I’m sure it is. Maybe it

needs to be phrased a different way.

“Not only do drugs fry your brain, but they can fry your liver as well.”