The majority of injecting drug users are carrying potentially fatal blood-borne viruses, according to new research.
Almost 70 per cent of injecting drug users tested positive for antibodies to hepatitis C, 20 per cent to hepatitis B, while almost 10 per cent were HIV positive, a report by the Health Research Board (HRB) shows.
Dr Jean Long, senior researcher in the drug misuse research division of the HRB, said: "It is well known that injectors have a higher risk of overdosing or acquiring blood-borne diseases . . . This highlights the importance of providing harm- reduction facilities for those who continue to inject."
The figures, contained in a decade-long overview of the health status of injecting drug users, shows the number with blood-borne viruses is higher now than it was in the early 1990s.
Hepatitis C is regarded by researchers to hold the most serious risk to injecting drug users. It is associated with injecting practices and with a prison history.
The research shows low rates of access to and uptake of treatment for hepatitis C.
When general practitioners, drug treatment centres and specialist centres took a more formal approach to treatment and follow-up, more people presented for investigation.
Hepatitis B status among treated users is linked to the age, injecting practices and sexual practices of drug users, research shows.
Dr Long said it was essential that the hepatitis B vaccine was administered as soon as possible to drug users.
Needle exchanges, low-threshold methadone services and general practitioners needed to have facilities to provide this intervention, free of charge, on a daily basis, she added.
Older injectors were more likely to test positive for HIV than their younger drug-using counterparts.
A longer history of injecting and a history of needle sharing were also associated with testing positive for HIV.
