Peer-delivered hepatitis C testing and counselling: a means of improving the health of injecting drug users.

We hypothesized that providing injecting drug users (IDUs) with free hepatitis C testing and counselling at a needle and syringe programme (NSP) would be an effective model. Between August 1999 and January 2000, our peer outreach worker offered these services from a busy NSP in western Melbourne. Over 300 counselling episodes were provided, and 47 IDUs who were not tested in the previous 12 months were given tests and full pre- and post-test counselling, and were interviewed about reasons for not being tested, their knowledge of hepatitis C, and their risk behaviour.

Pumping iron, risking infection? Exposure to hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV among anabolic-androgenic steroid injectors in Victoria, Australia.

Aims: To measure exposure to the hepatitis C and B viruses and HIV among Victorian steroid injectors and evaluate associations between exposure and risk behaviour, and report other characteristics of the study group.

Design: Seroprevalence study using a convenience sample.

Setting: Victoria, Australia.

Tracing and recruiting a cohort with community acquired hepatitis 25 years later.

Objective: We describe the methods used to trace and recruit a cohort (including injecting drug users) 25 years after admission to hospital in Melbourne with hepatitis.

Methods: Information recorded in the original medical record was used for tracing purposes. Subjects were located using the electoral roll, CD-ROM telephone directory, the Health Insurance Commission database, Hepatitis Foundation newsletters, advertising and features in the press and local radio.

Assessment of long-term outcomes of community-acquired hepatitis C infection in a cohort with sera stored from 1971 to 1975.

The aim of this study was to examine the long-term effects of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on a cohort of patients admitted with acute viral hepatitis from 1971 through 1975. The availability of stored sera from this time enabled testing to identify those who were anti-HCV-positive on admission. Sixteen percent (n = 238) of the cohort tested anti-HCV-positive.

Rapid assessment of drug use and HIV vulnerability in south-east and east Asia.

In an 8-week period in late 1997, an assessment of the situation of drug use and HIV vulnerability in east and south-east Asia was carried out for the United Nations Joint Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS). It served to assist UNAIDS' Asia-Pacific team in setting priorities for action at a regional level, it having been realised that epidemics of HIV among injecting drug users (IDUs) were playing an important role in the development of the AIDS epidemic in Asia at both country and regional levels. Though essentially a desk exercise, contact with the extensive membership of the Asian Harm Reduction Network allowed a deeper and more efficient investigation than would otherwise have been possible, with access to key informants and 'grey' literature.

A compilation of cellular transcription factor interactions with the HIV-1 LTR promoter.

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) long terminal repeat (LTR) represents a model promoter system and the identification and characterisation of cellular proteins that interact with this region has provided a basic understanding about both general eukaryotic and HIV-1 proviral transcriptional regulation. To date a large number of sequence-specific DNA-protein interactions have been described for the HIV-1 LTR. The aim of this report is to provide a comprehensive, updated listing of these HIV-1 LTR interactions.

The impact of diagnosis of hepatitis C virus on quality of life.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on quality of life in a cohort admitted to Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital with acute hepatitis from 1971 to 1975. Sera stored from the original admission were tested for antibody to HCV. Systematic approaches were used to locate anti-HCV-positive individuals and outcomes assessed by the Short Form 36 (SF-36) scale and a study-specific questionnaire as well as clinical review.

Tuberculosis infection and homelessness in Melbourne, Australia, 1995-1996.

Objective: To describe tuberculosis infection among persons experiencing homelessness in inner Melbourne, Australia.

Design: Homeless people were surveyed during late 1995 and early 1996. In stage one of the study 284 homeless people from crisis and long-term accommodation sites were recruited by means of stratified, systematic, random sampling.

Assessment of long-term outcomes of hepatitis C virus infection in a cohort of patients with acute hepatitis in 1971-1975: results of a pilot study.

Background: To examine the long-term effects of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in a cohort of patients admitted to Fairfield Hospital with hepatitis from 1971 to 1975. The availability of stored sera from this time enabled testing to identify those who were anti-HCV positive on admission.

Methods: Sixteen per cent (n = 230) of the cohort tested positive for HCV antibody (anti-HCV).

The Next Plague: Stigmatization and Discrimination Related to Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Australia.

A recently discovered hepatitis C virus is a common cause of chronic liver disease in industrialized countries. Because it is basically blood-borne and because blood donors are systematically screened, the only major group now at risk of infection are injecting drug users. There are increasing reports of stigmatization, affronts to dignity and discrimination as a result of the hepatitis C status of individuals, but little action is being taken to prevent or redress these.

A fourth Sp1 site in the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 long terminal repeat is essential for negative-sense transcription.

We report the discovery of a fourth Sp1 binding site at the 5' end of the U3 region of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) long terminal repeat (HIV-1 Sp1 IV), localized to HXB2 nucleotides -433 to -441. This site is shown to bind Sp1 protein specifically in electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Sp1 protein appears to bind to HIV-1 Spl IV with 5 to 10 times lower affinity than to a consensus Sp1 site.