Hepatitis in the Community

In Australia, approximately 165,000 people are living with chronic hepatitis B. Hepatitis B infection is vaccine preventable. The vaccine is effective in 95% of the population and is provided through the National Immunisation Program. The majority of people with chronic hepatitis B in Australia were infected early in life in hepatitis B endemic regions, such as the Asia Pacific, or rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Most adults (95%) will recover completely from acute hepatitis B infection.  For those who live with chronic hepatitis B, effective treatment is available when necessary.

In Western Australia, hepatitis C is one of the most commonly notified diseases each year.  There were 1161 cases of hepatitis C notified to the Health Department in 2009, with 94 of these known to be newly acquired infections.  The majority (76% in 2009) of hepatitis C cases are found in people aged from 20 to 49 years, with a significant number (7% in 2009) of newly acquired infections being in adolescents aged from 15 to 19 years and 28% in 2009 being in young adults aged 20 to 24 years. 

It is estimated that there are 212,000 people living with hepatitis C in Australia as at the end of 2009.  About 1.3% of the population are believed to have been exposed to hepatitis C, with the number of hepatitis C positive people being estimated to be more than 10 times greater than the number of HIV positive people. 

It is estimated that between 13 000 and 22 000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are living with hepatitis C in Australia, representing 4% of all Indigenous Australians, compared with 1% of non-indigenous Australians.  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples constitute some 2.4% of the Australian population, yet they comprise 8.3% of those living with hepatitis C.

There are often no, or minimal, symptoms at the time of infection. Consequently many people live undiagnosed with hepatitis C for years, even decades, with no signs of ill-health. For this reason people may be infected and unknowingly transmit the virus to others.

Hepatitis C is not confined to one age group, one social or economic group, one race or culture. In Australia the majority of infections are attributable to injecting drug use and in particular the sharing of injecting drug use equipment.  Other means of acquiring hepatitis C infection are through the receipt of blood products (prior to 1990), through unsterile tattooing or piercing procedures or mass vaccination programs overseas.  In the Testing section you will find a checklist of people considered at risk of hepatitis C infection for whom testing is recommended.

Bibliography

Western Australian Hepatitis C Action Plan 2006-2008, Department of Health Western Australia, 2006

Disease Watch Journal June 2010 Volume 14 No 2 page 3, www.public.health.wa.gov.au accessed on 20^th July 2010

DRAFT Toward a Third National Hepatitis C Strategy 2009 – 2013, 16th September 2009 page 2 accessed on 20 July 2010

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sexually Transmissible Infections and Blood Borne Viruses Strategy 2009 – 2013  page 15

National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, www9.health.gov.au/cda/Source/Rpt_5.cfm accessed on 21 July 2010.

Page last updated: Wednesday 15 September, 2010