FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 9, 2006

Ninety-eight percent of street youth in Thunder Bay and area have used drugs in the past 12 months and thirty percent have injected drugs at some time. Thunder Bay is just beginning to see the 'Meth Wave' which has devastated other communities.

This is just part of the picture presented by the 2004 Thunder Bay Street Youth Drug Use Survey funded by The Public Health Agency of Canada, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Ontario Region, Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund, and the Thunder Bay District Health Unit.

The Thunder Bay District Health Unit is concerned that behaviours associated with this high risk drug use in our district have pushed hepatitis C rates to become the second-most common disease reported to the Health Unit.

In response to the issue, the Health Unit is hosting "Blood, Sweat & Fears - Hepatitis C Awareness Conference" on February 23 - 24. The conference is for Health Care Professionals, Social Service Agencies, Emergency Responders, Community Agencies, Criminal Justice Agencies, and those Infected and Affected with the hepatitis C virus.

"The high demand for information and the lack of overall knowledge about the disease, its prevention and treatment has really been apparent during the thirty-five presentations we made last year," points out Don Young, from the Superior Points Harm Reduction Program. "As we see the use of hard drugs rise, the high-risk behaviour that spreads hep C will also rise. We believe that the problem is growing in Northwestern Ontario."

Public Health officials are hoping to increase awareness among these groups about hepatitis C epidemiology, prevention and treatment in Northwestern Ontario. They also hope to increase hepatitis C testing in Northwestern Ontario.

During the conference, more results of the study will be presented. Registration for the conference is still open. More information is available at the Health Unit Web site www.tbdhu.com.

The hepatitis C virus is spread mainly by direct contact with the blood from an infected person. This happens through sharing needles or other drug "works", through needlesticks or sharps exposures on the job, sharing personal care items that might have blood on them (razors, toothbrushes), or infected tattoo or body piercing tools.

As well, up to 20,000 people may have contracted hepatitis C because of receiving tainted blood during the 1980s and early 1990s. Dr. Roger Perrault, the former medical head of the Canadian Red Cross, and four other doctors are at the centre of the scandal which is just going to trial this month. They are charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and criminal nuisance endangering the public.

Hepatitis C results in chronic liver disease with many complications including death.

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