We used cross-sectional willing anonymous salivary hepatitis C (WASH-C) surveillance linked to self-completed risk-factor questionnaires to estimate the prevalence of salivary hepatitis C antibodies (HepCAbS) in five Scottish prisons from 1994 to 1996. Of 2121 available inmates, 1864 (88%) participated and 1532/1864 (82%) stored samples were suitable for testing. Overall 311/1532 (20.3%, preval...

PURPOSE The World Health Organization recommends the initiation of opioid agonists prior to release from incarceration to prevent relapse or overdose. Many countries in the world employ these strategies. This paper considers the evidence to support these recommendations and the factors that have slowed their adoption in the US. METHODS We reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and longi...

Validated data regarding HIV-transmission in prisons in developing countries is scarce. We examined sexual and injecting drug use behavior and HIV and HCV transmission in an Indonesian narcotic prison during the implementation of an HIV prevention and treatment program during 2004-2007 when the Banceuy Narcotic Prison in Indonesia conducted an HIV transmission prevention program to provide 1) H...

RATIONALE Benzodiazepines are used as anti anxiety drugs, as well as in adjunct treatment for a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Abusive patterns of use were increasingly reported and building evidence points to prevalence of benzodiazepines abuse, on one hand as well as to their common abuse in combination with other drugs such as opioids, most frequently. OBJECTIVE The main ...

Sixty-nine opiate addicts on methadone maintenance programmes at the Drug Treatment Centre were interviewed, all meet DSM. 3 criteria for opioid dependency. Most were young, poorly educated, unemployed and had involvement with both police and prison. Drug abuse started at a young age, all had injected drugs, heroin being the most widely abused opiate. Forty-eight (70%) were HIV (Human Immunodef...

AIMS To examine the long-term impact of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) on mortality, re-incarceration and hepatitis C seroconversion in imprisoned male heroin users. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS The study cohort comprised 382 imprisoned male heroin users who had participated in a randomized controlled trial of prison-based MMT in 1997/98. Subjects were followed-up between 1998 and ...

BACKGROUND Injecting drug users (IDU) are at risk of parenterally transmitted diseases such as hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. We investigated whether a history of syringe sharing in prison is a risk factor for these infections. In the longitudinal part of the study, HBV, HCV, and HIV seroincidence rates were determined. METH...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the assessment and treatment outcomes of a prison hepatitis service. DESIGN AND SETTING A retrospective, observational cohort study of prison inmates who attended hepatitis clinics from 1996 to 2005 at correctional centres in New South Wales. PATIENTS Inmates who attended the clinics, including a nested case-control series of patients who received antiviral treatment a...

AIMS to measure the results of prevention, health promotion and damage reduction programs for the health of the prison population via the progress of a number of illnesses in these contexts. MATERIALS AND METHODS The information was taken from reports, bulletins, specifications, central records and other documents containing health information from 1993 to 2009 RESULTS: The prevalence of HIV ...

BACKGROUND In North America, the harms of illicit drug use have been responded to primarily through law enforcement interventions. This strategy has resulted in record populations of addicted individuals being incarcerated in both Canada and the United States. The incarceration of non-violent drug offenders has become increasingly controversial as studies demonstrate the harms, including elevat...