Public health nurses in the West Piedmont Health District (WPHD) are taking their skills to area jails and intensive outpatient groups for substance abuse to help tide the spread of infectious diseases – like Hepatitis (Hep) C and HIV.
Pam Rorrer, Public Health Nurse, Sr., who has conducted screenings at local jails, said the many of inmates testing positive for Hep C admitted IV drug abuse. This finding is consistent with identified risk factors identified throughout VA and the US. Needle sharing and the use of unclean needles is a contributing factor to the spread of disease among drug users she said. The purpose of the program, in addition to early identification and treatment of individual disease, is to prevent the spread of diseases to the general population through education.
“This needs to be done,” she said. “The goal is to catch it early and get it cured. Hep C is curable if detected and treated before liver disease develops.”
Those testing positive for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) can live healthy lives if they stay on the medication prescribed for this once untreatable disease, Rorrer said.
Screening for sexually transmitted infections is also a part of the jail intervention, she added.
She said the program is going well and will be offered to all localities within WPHD.
During the first sweep of testing, Rorrer said approximately 19 percent of inmates who were tested were positive for Hep C, and most are in the 20-30 age group.
However, the work of the public health nurses doesn’t stop there. Case management is provided to any who test positive in order to connect them with appropriate treatment. The same is true for those receiving positive test results in drug treatment groups, she said.
In addition to Rorrer, Public Health Nurse, Sr., Steve Bailey has participated in the program, and Careen Rodgers, Public Health Nurse, Sr., who manages immunization programs for the district, will soon begin a Hepatitis A vaccination program in the jails within the district.
So far, syphilis and Hep C have been the two most common of the diseases detected according to Rorrer. These diseases are spread through sexual contact and sharing of IV needles.
Hep C is a disease caused by a virus that infects the liver. A Hep C infection can lead to inflammation of the liver and cancer of the liver. It can be spread through blood-to-blood contact or when the blood from a person with Hep C comes into contact with another person’s blood. The disease can exist undetected in a person’s body without the person’s knowledge, and this can lead to spread of the disease before symptoms occur.
