Thursday, May 20, 2010

WV: Highest Hepatitis Rate In The US

Wednesday May 19, 2010

State has most cases of hepatitis

Official says sharing needles, other equipment for drug use is biggest factor in W.Va's high rate
by Tom Bragg

Daily Mail staff

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia has long been at or near the top of the list among the 50 states in cases of heart disease per 100,000 residents, but now it is saddled with another unwanted distinction.

It has the highest incidence of hepatitis B per 100,000 residents, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control.

The Mountain State had 4.5 cases of acute hepatitis B for every 100,000 residents in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Oklahoma was second on the list with 4.2 incidences per 100,000.

Vicki Hogan, hepatitis B epidemiologist for the state health bureau, said the West Virginia counties with the highest rates of hepatitis in 2009 were Berkeley, Mercer, Logan, Cabell and Kanawha.

Loretta Haddy, director of the Office of Epidemiology and Prevention Services for the W.Va. Bureau for Public Health, said the sharing of needles and other equipment for drug use is the biggest factor in West Virginia's high rate.

"That's what is indicated on the reports we have received on hepatitis B, and that's all we really have to go on," Haddy said. "With the culture and population of injecting drug users in those counties, we can identify risk behavior like that and try to intervene and target those populations and minimize transmission and get out educational messages."

Hepatitis B is an illness caused by a virus that infects the liver. It causes liver inflammation, jaundice and vomiting, though it is rarely fatal. Occasionally, cirrhosis and liver cancer can result.

Statewide, the number of reported cases of hepatitis B rose from 69 in 2005 to 84 in 2009. In addition to sharing needles, the risk factors for hepatitis include having unprotected sex, especially men with other men, having many sex partners, or having had another sexually transmitted disease.

Hogan said the numbers the bureau receives are from self-reported incidents of hepatitis, and that some people are probably reluctant to talk about their sexual history and history of drug use with a physician.

"When a physician interviews the patient, they are asking them certain questions to get their history and the patients are providing the answers," Hogan said. "Some patients are not going to talk about their behaviors and history.

"Any person who is identified as positive for hepatitis B that comes through and we find out about, we can offer testing and vaccines through their local health department."

Sandra Graham, coordinator of the Adult Viral Hepatitis Program for the bureau, said vaccines are available for hepatitis B and that the virus can survive outside of the body for up to seven days.

"To date, we have 30 health departments that offer free vaccines, two jails and two substance abuse centers," Graham said. "Along with the vaccines, the nurses at these venues provide preventative educations, such as not sharing toothbrushes or razors, to help prevent them from transmitting the virus to others."

Graham said the number of vaccines administered at these venues rose 37 percent from 2008 to 2009 with 2,513 doses of the vaccine administered last year.

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month, and as part of that the state Office of Epidemiology and Preventative Services will host the W.Va. Viral Hepatitis Summit on Thursday at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in South Charleston.

Graham said the goal of the summit is to raise awareness of the hepatitis problem in West Virginia and to help prevent possible new cases of the virus.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

"Take Care WV" To Prevent Rx Abuse

Everyone knows drugs are dangerous. But did you know that sharing prescription drugs can be just as dangerous and deadly too? Sharing prescription drugs is also illegal.

Data indicates social access (sharing) is a major contributor to the misuse of prescription drugs. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, most prescription drug abusers obtain their drugs from family and friends. In WV, 64% of non-medical users of pain relievers reported getting the most recently used drug from a friend or relative for free, and another 7.6% reported buying them from a friend or relative.

Please don't share prescription drugs. Only take prescriptions as advised by your doctor.

The WV Partnership to Promote Community Well-Being and the WV Prevention Resource Center are launching Take Care WV – a social marketing campaign to spread the word that sharing prescription drugs is illegal, and it can be just as dangerous and deadly as illicit drugs.

How can you help support this campaign and reduce the misuse of prescription drugs in our state?

1. Please visit www.takecarewv.org to view/listen to campaign messages, read facts and statistics about RX drug misuse/abuse, and learn about proper RX storage and disposal.

2. Participate in your county’s discussions about Rx abuse. Community Forums/Discussions on Rx abuse are being scheduled across the state this summer. Dates will soon be posted on the WV Prevention Training & Events Calendar available at www.PrevNET.org. Contact information for your County Prevention Partnership is available at PrevNet as well as www.takecarewv.org.

3. Encourage your local coalitions/media/businesses/schools/civic groups to air/print the PSAs as much as possible. All the PSAs can be downloaded at www.takecarewv.org.

Some specific ideas for distributing the campaign messages include:

  • Email/talk to all your professional and personal contacts about this campaign. Feel free to forward this message as is, but also consider adding your own personal touch.
  • Print some of the PSAs as flyers and distribute/post them in your community. Ask your doctor, dentist, child care provider, church, employer, etc. to post flyers in their waiting areas, exam rooms, lunch rooms or bathrooms.
  • Facebook/Twitter the following message: Take Care WV: Please don’t share prescription drugs. Learn more at www.takecarewv.org
  • Include the print PSAs in newsletters, church bulletins, meeting packets, mailings, etc.
  • Talk to your local pharmacist about the campaign. Ask if they’ll post some of the flyers, and tell them later this summer we plan to have RX bags (with the campaign logo/message) for all WV pharmacies to use for a limited time. We’re working on corporate permission for the chains right now.

    Thanks in advance for your support of Take Care WV. Please feel free to contact Michelle Burnside at (304) 552-7982 if you have any questions/comments/ideas.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Happy Spring! Coalition Updates

Congrats Coalition Co-Chairs!
At the quarterly OCSAPC meeting on April 14th, the coalition voted Betsy Bethel-McFarland and Jim McGoldrick in as our new Coalition Co-Chairs. Thanks to Betsy and Jim for graciously accepting these positions as a great step towards a more community-driven coalition. We will be meeting soon to develop a leadership team to guide the strategic planning process that makes for effective science-based prevention efforts.

Coalition Training & Capacity-Building
Our coalition is participating in a couple of trainings to build our capacity to make community level change right here in Ohio County: Service to Science (STS) and the National Coalition Academy (NCA). Our coalition was nominated and then selected to participate in STS in early April to gain important evaluation tools and support. The National Coalition Academy is a year-long innovative training program that combines three-weeks of classroom training, distance learning and Web support to teach our community what it needs to know and to do in order to sustain a highly effective anti-drug coalition.

Thanks to Cheryl Maltese for traveling to Bloomington, MN to participate in the STS training; she has helped to kick-start some practical coalition evaluation tools- making sure that we are staying on track with prevention strategies. Thanks to Jim McGoldrick and Grant Coleman for traveling to Des Moines, IA and participating in this great training opportunity! There is a space open for any coalition member who would like an all-expense paid trip to Iowa with me the week of August 1-6, 2010 to participate in the third and final week of this very valuable training. Contact Julia if you’re interested!

MAY DATES! MAY DATES!

  • Wednesday, May 12: Sustainability Taskforce Meeting (12:30pm at YSS- SNACKS PROVIDED). AGENDA: Planning beyond the DFC grant!
  • Monday, May 17: Social Marketing Taskforce Meeting (12:30pm at YSS- SNACKS PROVIDED). AGENDA: Developing our coalition media plan!
  • Thursday, May 20: “Moving People Into Action” Workshop (10am-3pm at Grand Vue Park, LUNCH PROVIDED- RSVP BY MAY 17). AGENDA: This hands-on workshop, taught by leadership expert Peter Hille, will set people on the path toward greater community involvement. Workshop sponsored by Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition.
  • Friday, May 28: "Tiny Tot Trot" FREE family event sponsored by OV Parent Magazine (Registration begins at 5pm outside WesBanco Arena in downtown Wheeling)

Funding

The Ohio County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (OCSAPC) is funded by a federal Drug Free Communities (DFC) Support Program Grant from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Youth Services System, Inc. (YSS) serves as the coalition's fiscal and administrative agent.

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