HIV is not the only virus you can become infected with by sharing needles and drug paraphernalia. Hepatitis C can also be transmitted among IDU users.

Hepatitis C (HCV) is a viral disease of the liver. It is spread through contact with the blood of infected persons. This can occur through sharing needles, blood transfusions before 1992, through sexual contact and from infected mother to their babies. Having HIV may increase the risk of contracting HCV.

Symptoms include fatigue, loss of appetite, jaundice and abdominal pain. Long term effect may include, cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure, liver cancer and sometimes death. Symptoms of HCV may not occur in all people, or they may take years to show up.

Diagnosis is established through a blood test. There is no vaccine for HCV and there is no cure. There are durg treatments, but they are only successful in 35-40% of cases HCV was first identified in 1989 and currently infects 170 million people worldwide with 275,000 in Canada.

To prevent the spread HCV to other, infected persons should not share needles for intravenous drug use, tattoos or piercings.