HIV and Hepatitis C poll results Monthly polls on different issues around HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) garnered well over 1,000 votes during 2014, from respondents representing the community, private, charity, voluntary and third sector in the UK and beyond. Opinions were sought on topics ranging from preventative treatment to international studies to smoking. Poll host David Rowlands reviews the results. 82 per cent supported the premise that HIV screening should be offered routinely in any A&E department.
More than 450 people have undergone the 30-second HIV test at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London since the programme started in March 2014. The scheme has been deemed necessary in an attempt to ‘diagnose the undiagnosed’ because these people cause an estimated 75 per cent of new cases. This pilot came about after research found people who were diagnosed late accounted for nearly a third of all AIDS deaths in 2013.
82 per cent agreed that prisoners should be offered an HCV test as part of their induction into prison. Between a third and half of new arrivals in prison are estimated to be problem drug users, which is equivalent to
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between 45,000 and 65,000 prisoners in England and Wales. 69 per cent of those who enter prison have taken drugs within the previous 12 months. Of these, 40 per cent report injecting drug use within the 28 days preceding imprisonment. Prisons are a key area where HCV services need to be improved. Most prisons have high numbers of HCV patients, many of whom are undiagnosed, and there is insufficient work going on to address this growing problem. Awareness of HCV needs to be sustained and enhanced among professionals and people at risk of HCV infection to ensure that more people are tested, and levels of undiagnosed infection are reduced. Testing needs to be sustained among those attending specialist services for people who use drugs. The use of newer technologies, like dried blood spot testing that make testing easier in non-clinical settings should be further expanded through the UK.
Awareness of HCV needs to be sustained and enhanced among professionals and people at risk of HCV infection to ensure that more people are tested, and levels of undiagnosed infection are reduced.
David Rowlands
86 per cent supported a recommendation by the World Health Organization (WHO) that all gay men should take antiretroviral therapy (ART) to halt the HIV epidemic. A report published by WHO made ‘strong recommendations’ that all men who have sex with men should seriously consider taking antiretroviral medicine ‘as an additional method of preventing the HIV infection from spreading’, even if they haven’t got the virus themselves. The report said that, in addition to other forms of protection like condoms
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