ANDERSON – Madison County Health Department officials are discouraged with the early participation in the needle exchange program.
Stephanie Grimes, public health coordinator for the county department, told Board of Health members on Wednesday that 3,000 syringes have been distributed in the first two months of the program to combat the spread of the hepatitis C.
“We have had 12 first-time and two repeat visitors,” she said. “We’re a little discouraged by the numbers and participants. The state feels the program has been successful.”
Grimes said half of the clients wanting to exchange needles through the program have been at the mobile sites and half at the designated locations.
The department receives daily calls inquiring about the program, she said.
The needle exchange program was established to prevent the spread of hepatitis C and HIV. Both infections can be contracted by contact with the blood of an infected person.
Health officials say the hepatitis C and HIV infections are a result of needle sharing by drug users.
Kellie Kelley, public information officer for the county department, said the number of hepatitis C cases in the county continues to increase.
In 2013, there were 70 new cases of hepatitis C identified in Madison County and the number increased to 130 in 2014 and the current rates will match or surpass last year’s levels, she said. Through September there have been 154 cases of hepatitis C in the county.
The increase is a result of intravenous drug use by the sharing of needles and other equipment, she said.
The preferred drug of choice is prescription pain pills that are diluted and then injected.
“We continue to do the hepatitis C and HIV screening,” Kelley said. “We recently had four new hepatitis C positive tests and have referred them to a primary care physician.”
Kelley said the screening results are validating that the Health Department is addressing a need in Madison County.
She said there has been a recent outbreak of hepatitis C in Elwood where 15 people have tested positive, including five minors.
Kelley said there are similar cases among minors in Anderson.
When a minor tests positive for hepatitis C, the parents or guardians have to be notified, she said.
The Health Department is relying on people who called to be a participant in the needle exchange program to bring other people with them.