Drug and Alcohol Dependence
Volume 91, Issue 2 , Pages 228-235 , 1 December 2007

Modelling the hepatitis C virus epidemic in Australia

  • Karina Razali

      Affiliations

    • National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +61 2 93825 0900; fax: +61 2 9385 0920.
    • ,
  • Hla Hla Thein

      Affiliations

    • National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
    • ,
  • Jane Bell

      Affiliations

    • Department of Health and Ageing, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
    • ,
  • Mark Cooper-Stanbury

      Affiliations

    • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia
    • ,
  • Kate Dolan

      Affiliations

    • National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
    • ,
  • Greg Dore

      Affiliations

    • National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
    • ,
  • Jacob George

      Affiliations

    • Westmead Millenium Institute, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia
    • ,
  • John Kaldor

      Affiliations

    • National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
    • ,
  • Maria Karvelas

      Affiliations

    • Victorian Government Department of Human Services, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
    • ,
  • Jiong Li

      Affiliations

    • National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
    • ,
  • Lisa Maher

      Affiliations

    • National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
    • ,
  • Sharyn McGregor

      Affiliations

    • Department of Health and Ageing, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
    • ,
  • Margaret Hellard

      Affiliations

    • Burnet Institute, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
    • ,
  • Fiona Poeder

      Affiliations

    • Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League Inc., Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
    • ,
  • Julianne Quaine

      Affiliations

    • Department of Health and Ageing, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
    • ,
  • Kim Stewart

      Affiliations

    • NSW Health, North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia
    • ,
  • Helen Tyrrell

      Affiliations

    • Australian Hepatitis Council, Woden, ACT 2606, Australia
    • ,
  • Martin Weltman

      Affiliations

    • Nepean Hospital, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    • ,
  • Owen Westcott

      Affiliations

    • NSW Health, North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia
    • ,
  • Alex Wodak

      Affiliations

    • Alcohol and Drug Service, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
    • ,
  • Matthew Law

      Affiliations

    • National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia

Received 13 December 2006 ,Revised 30 May 2007 ,Accepted 30 May 2007.

References 

  1. Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence (ABCI), 1998–2004. Australian illicit drug reports 1998–1999, 1999–2000, 2000–2001, 2001–2002, 2002–2003, and 2003–2004. Canberra.
  2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2005a. Population, sex and country of birth, States and Territories, 1961–2001 Census (usual residence). ABS Cat. No. 3105.0. Available from www.abs.gov.au <accessed on 30 August 2006>.
  3. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2005b. Deaths, Australia 2004. Canberra; ABS Cat. No. 3302.0.
  4. Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (AGDHA), 2006. National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. Available from: www9.health.gov.au/cda/Source/CDA-index.cfm (accessed on 28 July 2006).
  5. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 1999. 1998 National Drug Strategy Household Survey: First results. Canberra; AIHW Cat. No. PHE 15 (Drug Statistics Series).
  6. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2002. 2001 National Drug Strategy Household Survey: First results. Canberra; AIHW Cat. No. PHE 15 (Drug Statistics Series).
  7. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2005. 2004 National Drug Strategy Household Survey: First results. Canberra; AIHW Cat. No. PHE 15 (Drug Statistics Series).
  8. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2006. [database on the Internet] National Hospital Morbidity Database. [cited 2006 July 28]. Avalaible from www.aihw.gov.au/hospitals/datacubes/datacube_pdx.cfm (accessed on 1 October 2006).
  9. Albano A, Pianetti A, Biffi MR, Bruscolini F, Baffone W, Albano V, et al. Prevalence of anti-HCV in subjects of various age groups. Eur. J. Epidemiol. 1992;8:309–311
  10. Alberti A, Noventa F, Benvegnu L, Boccato S, Gatta A. Prevalence of liver disease in a population of asymptomatic persons with hepatitis C virus infection. Ann. Intern. Med. 2002;137:961–964
  11. Alter MJ, Kruszon-Moran D, Nainan OV, McQuillan GM, Gao F, Moyer LA, et al. The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the United States, 1988 through 1994. N. England J. Med. 1999;341:556–562
  12. Amin J, Gidding H, Gilbert G, Backhouse J, Kaldor J, Dore G, et al. Hepatitis C prevalence—a nationwide serosurvey. Commun. Dis. Intell. 2004;28:517–521
  13. Amin J, Law MG, Bartlett M, Kaldor JM, Gore GJ. Causes of death following diagnosis of hepatitis B or C infection: a large community based linkage study. Lancet. 2006;368:938–945
  14. Archer GT, Buring ML, Clark B, Ismay SL, Kenrick KG, Purusothaman K, et al. Prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies in Sydney blood donors. Med. J. Aust. 1992;157:225–227
  15. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2003a. Hepatitis Surveillance, 2003. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Report No. 58; September 2003.
  16. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2003b. Hepatitis C Virus. [Internet] Slideset: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/slideset/hep_c/slide_1.htm <accessed on 15 October 2006>.
  17. Copland J. Recent non-injecting drug use transmission of hepatitis C infection. In: 3rd Australasian Conference on Hepatitis C (delegate book and abstracts). Melbourne; March 2002. 2002;p. 59
  18. Crofts N, Jolley D, Kaldor J, van Beek I, Wodak A. Epidemiology of hepatitis C virus infection among injecting drug users in Australia. J. Epidemiol. Comm. Health. 1997;6:692–697
  19. Day C, Topp L, Rouen D, Darke S, Hall W, Dolan K. Decreased heroin availability in Sydney in early 2001. Addiction. 2003;98:93–95
  20. Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), 2005. Settlement Reports 2005. Available from www.immi.gov.au (accessed on 10 August 2006).
  21. Degenhardt L, Roxburgh A, Black E. 2003 Australian Bureau of Statistics data on accidental opioid induced deaths.. Sydney: NDARC, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre; 2003;ISSN: 14459833
  22. Degenhardt L, Day C, Gilmour S, Hall W. The “lessons” of the Australian “heroin shortage”. Subst. Abuse Treat. Prev. Policy. 2006;1:11
  23. Dietze P, Jolley P, Cvetkovski S, Cantwell K, Jacobs I, Indig D. Characteristics of non-fatal opioid overdoses attended by ambulance services in Australia. Aust. N Z J. Public Health. 2004;28:65–71
  24. English D, Holman CDJ, Milne E, Winter E, Hulse GK, Codde JP. The Quantification of Drug Caused Morbidity and Mortality in Australia, 1995 edition. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health; 1995;
  25. Fattovich G, Giustina G, Degos F, Tremolada F, Diodati G, Almasio P, et al. Morbidity and mortality in compensated cirrhosis type C: a retrospective follow-up study of 384 patients. Gastroenterology. 1997;12:463–472
  26. Frank C, Mohamed MK, Strickland GT, Lavanchy D, Arthur RR, Magder LS, et al. The role of parenteral antishistosomal therapy in the spread of hepatitis C virus in Egypt. Lancet. 2000;355:887–891
  27. Freeman AJ, Dore GJ, Law MG, Thorpe M, von Overbeck J, Lloyd AR, et al. Estimating progression to cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Hepatology. 2001;34:809–816
  28. Garner JF, Gaughwin M, Dodding J, Willson K. Prevalence of hepatitis C infection in pregnant women in South Australia. Med. J. Aust. 1997;166:470–472
  29. Hepatitis C Virus Projections Working Group (HCVPWG), 1998. Estimates and projections of the hepatitis C virus epidemic in Australia 1998. NCHECR, Sydney (Australia).
  30. Hepatitis C Virus Projections Working Group (HCVPWG), 2002. Estimates and projections of the hepatitis C virus epidemic in Australia 2002. NCHECR, Sydney (Australia).
  31. Health Protection Agency (HPA), 2005. Hepatitis C in England: The First Health Protection Agency Annual Report 2005. London: Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, December 2005.
  32. Ismay SL, Thomas S, Fellows A, Keller A, Kenrick KG, Archer GT, et al. Post-transfusion hepatitis revisited. Med. J. Aust. 1995;163:74–77
  33. Kakepoto GN, Bhally HS, Khaliq G, Kayani N, Burney IA, Siddiqui T, et al. Epidemiology of blood-borne viruses: A study of healthy blood donors in Southern Pakistan. Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health. 1996;27:703–706
  34. Kaldor JM, Archer GT, Buring ML, Ismay SL, Kenrick KG, Lien ASM, et al. Risk factors for hepatitis C virus infection in blood donors: a case-control study. Med. J. Aust. 1992;157:227–230
  35. Khattak MF, Salamat N, Bhatti FA, Qureshi TZ. Seroprevalence of hepatitis B, C and HIV in blood donors in northern Pakistan. J. Pak. Med. Assoc. 2002;52:398–402
  36. Law MG on behalf of the Hepatitis C Virus Projections Working Group. Modelling the hepatitis C virus epidemic in Australia. J Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 1999;14:1100–1107
  37. Law MG, Dore GJ, Bath N, Thompson S, Crofts N, Dolan K, et al. Modelling hepatitis C virus incidence, prevalence and long-term sequelae in Australia, 2001. Int. J. Epidemiol. 2003;32:717–724
  38. Li Y, Dore GJ, Pritchard-Jones J, Kaldor JM, McCaughan GW. Higher risk of cirrhosis among cases of ‘sporadic’ hepatitis C infection from countries of high background hepatitis C prevalence. In: 1st Australasian Conference on Hepatitis C (delegate book and abstracts). Sydney; 1998. 1998;
  39. Luby SP, Qamruddin K, Shah AA, Omair A, Pahsa O, Khan AJ, et al. The relationship between therapeutic injections and high prevalence of hepatitis C infection in Hafizabad. Pak. Epidemiol. Infect. 1997;119:349–356
  40. Maher L, Jalaludin B, Chant K, Kaldor J. Hepatitis C among intravenous drug users. Epidemiology. 2005;16:423–424
  41. Maher L, Jalaludin B, Chant K, Jayasuriya R, Sladden T, Kaldor J, et al. Incidence and risk factors for hepatitis C seroconversion in injecting drug users in Australia. Addiction. 2006;101:1499–1508
  42. Maher L, Li J, Jalaludin B, Wand H, Jayasuriya R, Dixon D, et al. Impact of a reduction in heroin availability on patterns of drug use, risk behaviour and incidence of hepatitis C virus infection in injecting drug users in New South Wales. Aust. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2007;89:244–250
  43. Mison LM, Young IF, O’Donoghue M, Cowley N, Thorlton N, Hyland CA. Prevalence of hepatitis C virus and genotype distribution in an Australian volunteer blood donor population. Transfusion. 1997;37:73–78
  44. National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR), 2005. HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia: Annual Surveillance Report 2005. NCHECR, Sydney (Australia); AIHW, Canberra (Australia); Available from www.med.unsw.edu.au/nchecr (accessed on 15 October 2006).
  45. Perz JF, Farrington LA, Pecoraro C, Hutin YJF, Armstrong GL. Estimated global prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection. In: 42nd Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Boston, MA, USA; September 30–October 3, 2004. 2004;
  46. Poynard T, Ratziu V, Charlotte F, Goodman Z, McHutchinson J, Albrecht J. Rates and risk factors of liver fibrosis progression in patients with chronic hepatitis C. J. Hepatol. 2001;34:730–739
  47. Puro V, Petrosillo N, Ippoloti G, Aloisi MS, Boumis E, Rava L. Occupational hepatitis C virus infection in Italian health care workers. Italian Study Group on Occupational Risk of Blood borne Infections. Am. J. Public Health. 1995;85:1272–1275
  48. Rouen D., Dolan K., Day C., Topp L., Darke S., Hall W., 2001. Changes in heroin availability in Sydney, Australia in early 2001. National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) Technical Report No. 119; UNSW, Sydney.
  49. Spencer JD, Tibbits D, Tippet C, Mead C, Kaldor JM, Dore GJ. Review of antenatal testing policies and practice for HIV and hepatitis C infection. Aust. N Z J. Public Health. 2003;27:614–619
  50. Strasser SI, Watson KJR, Lee CS, Coghlan PJ, Desmond PV. Risk factors and predictors of outcomes in an Australian cohort with hepatitis C virus infection. Med. J. Aust. 1995;162:355–358
  51. Sy T, Jamal MM. Epidemiology of hepatitis c virus (HCV) infection. Int. J. Med. Sci. 2006;3:41–46
  52. Thorley A. Longitudinal studies of drug dependence. In:  Edwards G,  Busch C editor. Drug Problems in Britain: A Review of Ten Years. Academic Press; 1981;
  53. Thuring EG, Joller-Jemelka HI, Sareth H, Sokhan U, Reth C, Grob P. Prevalence of markers of hepatitis viruses A, B, C and of HIV in health individuals and patients of a Cambodian province. Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health. 1993;24:239–249
  54. Topp L, Day C, Degenhardt L. Changes in patterns of drug injection concurrent with a sustained reduction in the availability of heroin in Australia. Drug Alcohol. Depend. 2003;70:275–286
  55. van Beek I, Dwyer R, Dore G, Luo K, Kaldor JM. High incidence of hepatitis C virus infection among injecting drug users in Sydney in a harm reduction setting. Br. Med. J. 1998;317:433–437
  56. Williams I. Epidemiology of hepatitis C in the United States. Am. J. Med. 1999;107:2S–9S
  57. Wong P-Y, Dodd R, Kiely P, Carroll C, Whyte G. Characteristics of hepatitis C-positive blood donors in Victoria. Aust. Transfus. Med. 1999;9:15–19
  58. Xia GL, Liu CB, Cao HL, Bi SL, Zhan MY, Su CA, et al. Prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infections in the general Chinese populations: results from a nationwide cross-sectional seroepidemiologic study of hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E virus infections in China. Int. Hep. Comms. 1992;5:62–73

PII: S0376-8716(07)00240-2

doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2007.05.026

Drug and Alcohol Dependence
Volume 91, Issue 2 , Pages 228-235 , 1 December 2007

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution