Sleepwalking through an epidemic : why social work should wake up to the threat of Hepatitis C

Paylor, Ian and Orgel, Michael (2004) Sleepwalking through an epidemic : why social work should wake up to the threat of Hepatitis C. British Journal of Social Work, 36 (6). pp. 897-906. ISSN 1468-263X

Abstract

One of the many consequences of injecting drug use is the potential risk to infectious blood-borne viruses. There is evidence that the risk of contracting Hepatitis C (HCV) is greater than that of HIV. Despite repeated warnings from a variety of sources and thousands of new infections among drug users each year and rising incidents of ‘'crack’ injecting, successive governments have failed to address a public health emergency of immense proportions - the HCV epidemic. This article explores this issue and the implications it has for social work.