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Injecting risk practices and Hepatitis C

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Author: Kerryn Butler and Lucinda Burns

Resource Type: Drug Trends Bulletins

Key findings

  • Sharing needles/syringes and injecting equipment poses a substantial risk to HCV transmission among PWID.
  • While needle/syringe sharing is low among PWID, equipment sharing is far more common.
  • Those who have tested positive to HCV antibodies are 7.5 times more likely to receptively share needles/syringes than those who tested negative to HCV antibodies, thereby putting themselves at increased risk.
  • Harm minimisation interventions and public health messages need to target this behaviour to reduce the risk of HCV infection.