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| Mass. Prisons plagued with Hepatitis C |
| By Milford Daily News |
| Published: 09/05/2003 |
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While the rate of HIV infection among Massachusetts prison inmates has remained steady since 1999, a surge in inmates with deadly Hepatitis C has caught the state system off guard. Hepatitis C is being called the new HIV/AIDS epidemic, challenging corrections officials in Massachusetts and nationally to treat and manage the virus with slim budgets. There are more inmates in the state prison system with Hepatitis C or a combination of Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS than there is treatment available, said health advocates who work in the prisons. 'It's an increasing caseload of people to get into a very small system of care,' said Kathy Blumenthal of Great Brook Valley Health Center in Worcester, who oversees a program for inmates at MCI-Framingham. Susan Martin, director of health services for the Massachusetts Department of Correction, said inmates with HIV are living longer because of drug 'cocktails,' but are succumbing to complications from co-infection with Hepatitis C. According to data from the Department of Correction, the number of AIDS-related deaths dropped from a high of 19 in 1994 to two in 2002. Dr. Alfred DeMaria, assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at the Department of Public Health, said that of the 10,000 inmates in the state prison system, 300 are HIV positive. About 3 percent of the male inmate population and 5 percent of the female population have the virus. In addition to those with HIV, there are 3,000 inmates in state prisons infected with Hepatitis C, or about 30 percent of the male population and 40 percent of the female population, said DeMaria. About 70 percent of the 300 inmates with HIV are co-infected with Hepatitis C, and 10 percent of the 3,000 inmates with Hepatitis C are co-infected with HIV, he said. In 2002 at least five died from complications of Hepatitis C prior to their release from state prisons and county jails. Hepatitis C is the most common blood-borne virus in the United States and is the leading cause of liver transplants. It can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer and death. It is more contagious than HIV because it requires much less exposure to contaminated blood. Like HIV, Hepatitis C can be contracted through intravenous drug use, and symptoms can take years to appear. Treatment for Hepatitis C consists of expensive drugs called Interferon and Ribavirin and costs up to $25,000 a person for one year, said DeMaria. Since the treatment is so costly, only 50 to 60 of the 3,000 state inmates with Hepatitis C can be treated at one time, said DeMaria. Not everyone qualifies for the treatment, which cures 50 percent of patients. Testing in the state corrections system is voluntary. Once an inmate tests positive, they are referred to a specialist. Inmates wait up to a year for treatment, said DeMaria. Because of tight budgets, providers must weigh criteria such as the likelihood the person will comply with the painful treatment and whether treatment will be successful. |
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