Hepatitis C and Steroids...

[big in vegas]

I've been looking at this combo for a week or so now because a guy I know has Hep C and he's on an insane amount of juice and actually nearly died because of liver failure. It looks as though he's going to need a liver transplant. So anyway, I figured I'd post this up so people are aware of the connection. It wouldn't hurt to be checked just so you're aware whether you have it or not in case you're thinking of or are taking any liver toxic compounds.

Men who inject anabolic steroids and tanning drugs are at higher risk of <abbr title="Human immunodeficiency virus" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">HIV</abbr>and viral hepatitis, according to a landmark study from Public Health England (<abbr title="Public Health England" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">PHE</abbr>) published in <abbr title="British Medical Journal" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">BMJ</abbr> Open today (Friday September 13).
The use of image and performance enhancing drugs has grown substantially over the last twenty years, but the risk of exposure to blood borne viruses among those who inject drugs to change their body appearance or improve their performance has rarely been studied.
Researchers from <abbr title="Public Health England" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">PHE</abbr> and Liverpool John Moores University surveyed 395 men using image and performance enhancing drugs and found:

• 1 in 18 injectors have been exposed to hepatitis C
• 1 in 11 have ever been exposed to hepatitis B
• 1 in 65 have <abbr title="Human immunodeficiency virus" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">HIV</abbr>

Overall 1 in 10 had been exposed to one or more of <abbr title="Human immunodeficiency virus" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">HIV</abbr>, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C, suggesting that the transmission of blood borne viruses is common in this group. These infections can result from unsafe drug injecting practises or unprotected sex.
Lead author Dr Vivian Hope, a <abbr title="Public Health England" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">PHE</abbr> expert in infections among people who inject drugs, said:

Our study suggests that levels of <abbr title="Human immunodeficiency virus" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">HIV</abbr> and hepatitis infection among men using image and performance enhancing drugs have increased since the 1990s. While we must be cautious in generalising these early findings, they are concerning and show that further research is required.
​

Use of psychoactive drugs like cocaine (46% had snorted cocaine, and 12% snorted or swallowed amphetamines) was also high among this population, along with sexual risk behaviours - only 20% of those having sex in the preceding year reported always used a condom.
Dr. Fortune Ncube, Consultant Epidemiologist and lead for <abbr title="Public Health England" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">PHE</abbr> on Injecting Drug Use, concludes:

These findings suggest serious health implications for users of image and performance enhancing drugs, but also for their sexual partners and ultimately the wider community.
These findings suggest we must maintain and strengthen public health interventions focused on reducing injection-related risk behaviours to prevent <abbr title="Human immunodeficiency virus" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">HIV</abbr> and hepatitis infections in this group. This includes ensuring those providing voluntary confidential testing services and care related to<abbr title="Human immunodeficiency virus" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">HIV</abbr> and hepatitis are alert to the risks associated with image and performance enhancing drug use.
​

Jim McVeigh from the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University and co-author of the paper said:

Injectors of anabolic steroids and associated drugs are now the biggest client group at many needle and syringe programmes in the UK. This research shows that anyone who injects drugs is at risk of <abbr title="Human immunodeficiency virus" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">HIV</abbr> and other blood borne viruses, regardless of their substance of choice.
It is essential that all health services, together with the drug users themselves, are made aware of this and appropriate prevention interventions are developed.
​

[h=3]Ends[/h][h=2]Notes to editors[/h]

1. Sample recruited as part of Public Health England’s Unlinked anonymous monitoring (<abbr title="Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">UAM</abbr>) survey of people who inject drugs (PWID), monitoring prevalence of blood borne viruses (BBVs) among injectors of psychoactive drugs attending collaborating specialist services.
   
2. Between June 2010 and May 2011 collaborating needle and syringe programme (<abbr title="Needle and syringe programme" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">NSP</abbr>) services (17 across England and 2 in Wales) recruited<abbr title="Image and performance enhancing drugs" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">IPED</abbr> users. Those who agreed to take part provided an oral fluid sample and self-completed a short questionnaire on <abbr title="Image and performance enhancing drugs" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">IPED</abbr> use. Analyses focused on 395 male <abbr title="Image and performance enhancing drugs" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">IPED</abbr> injectors.
   
3. The median age of the 395 participants was 28 years old. Overall, 34% had used ≥3 types of <abbr title="Image and performance enhancing drugs" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">IPED</abbr> during the preceding year. The type of <abbr title="Image and performance enhancing drugs" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">IPED</abbr>most commonly used was anabolic steroids; other IPEDs include growth hormone and Melanotan I/II. These drugs are used to change appearance for both cosmetic and aesthetic reasons, in addition to being used to improve physical performance.
   
4. Most studies of people who inject drugs have only looked at those who inject psychoactive drugs such as opiates like heroin, and stimulants like cocaine and amphetamine. Many studies have examined the levels of infection and risk among injectors of psychoactive drugs. This study was the first to purposively collect both questionnaire data and a biological sample from people injecting IPEDs.
   
5. The proportions of people in the UK with <abbr title="Human immunodeficiency virus" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">HIV</abbr> infection and ever infected with hepatitis B and C are difficult to measure. In England, among those aged 15 to 59 years about 1 in 150 are estimated to have ever been infected with hepatitis C in 2005 (Harris RJ, et al. Eur.J.Public Health. 2011). In 2011, around one in 670 people in the UK were thought to be living with <abbr title="Human immunodeficiency virus" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">HIV</abbr> (<abbr title="Human immunodeficiency virus" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">HIV</abbr> in the United Kingdom: 2012 Report. HPA 2012). There is no recent estimate of the proportion of the UK population that has ever been infected with hepatitis B.
   
6. The number of people who inject IPEDs is not known. There is some data on the reported use of anabolic steroids from the Crime Survey for England and Wales. In 2012 and 2013, this survey estimated that 59,000 (range 37,000 to 82,000) people had taken <abbr title="Anabolic steroids" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">AS</abbr> in the last year. This will include people who use <abbr title="Anabolic steroids" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">AS</abbr> orally as well as those who inject them, so these figures cannot be extrapolated and applied to the <abbr title="Public Health England" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">PHE</abbr> study. This household survey may underestimate the number of users: information on the limitations of this survey is available. This survey dose not provide data on people who only use other IPEDs.

7.Public Health England’s mission is to protect and improve the nation’s health and to address inequalities through working with national and local government, the NHS, industry and the voluntary and community sector.<abbr title="Public Health England" style="border: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: help;">PHE</abbr> is an operationally autonomous executive agency of the Department of Health. www.gov.uk/phe

 

[fstr03svtcobra]

I am SO glad I don't have an std.

 

[Presser]

i dont understand how you would get Hepatitis from injecting gear?

 

[fstr03svtcobra]

i dont understand how you would get Hepatitis from injecting gear?

We all share needles with random strangers we just me that day in the gym right??

 

[dorian123]

i dont understand how you would get Hepatitis from injecting gear?

that's what I'm thinking, unless they are referring to cirrhosis but that won't be Hepatitis C

 

[BigZ]

The study seems to infer that all steroid users also use illicit drugs and have unprotected sex. Not sure where they're getting their statistics. Seems like a bogus study to me. Infections of Hep C aren't all that common either, and you can't get HIV simply from injecting gear.

For bignwv's friend, I wonder if he should probably reevaluate using gear because of his liver.

 

[big in vegas]

I'm assuming they're thinking that someone may re-use needles. Or share bottles with someone who re-uses needles. I just wanted to throw it out there that hep c and steroids are a bad combo

 

[IronJulius]

I have a friend who has hep c and asked me for needles cuz i get scrit with HRT one day he asked me if i would try his tren ace to see if i thought it was real i was like no because of hep c but told him ive never used tren

 

[big in vegas]

I have a friend who has hep c and asked me for needles cuz i get scrit with HRT one day he asked me if i would try his tren ace to see if i thought it was real i was like no because of hep c but told him ive never used tren

Probably a smart move just in case. I don't really know if you can catch it like that, but there's no sense in chancing it

 

[mcgaret]

i dont understand how you would get Hepatitis from injecting gear?

sharing needles.