PROGRAM |
DISCIPLINE |
HEALTH THEMES |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Disease Elimination | Public Health | Hepatitis C; Alcohol and Other Drugs; Injecting Drug Use |
People who inject illicit performance-enhancing drugs, of which anabolic–androgenic steroids are the most common are an emerging area of research on blood-borne virus transmission. Steroid injectors can experience serious or fatal health sequelae but these are rare and documented mostly as case reports.
This quantitative or mixed methods project will recruit participants and measure sero-prevalence of hepatitis C among people injecting steroids. To date consumers have little knowledge of the hepatitis C virus and how its transmission might occur.
Methods
Participants will be recruited for a structured survey and finger-stick blood test principally through the Steroid Peer Education Program.
This project has one outreach worker who continues to deliver injecting equipment, referral services and health information to steroid injectors throughout metropolitan Melbourne. It is the only specific service steroid user in Victoria, but injecting equipment is available for free from needle and syringe programs throughout the state.
Contact
Associate Professor Peter Higgs
Principal Research Fellow; Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, La Trobe University
peter.higgs@burnet.edu.au
Penny Hill
Research Assistant
penny.hill@burnet.edu.au
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