Northern Hep C spread prompts prevention campaign

The rise in the number of cases of Hepatitis C and the potential for an outbreak of HIV in First Nations communities in the north has prompted the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA) to launch an awareness campaign.
Get Informed. Get Tested was officially launched on Feb. 4 by SLFNHA in partnership with the Sexually Transmitted/Blood Borne Infection Working Group (ST/BBI) and is aimed at educating the public about the infections and how they can protect themselves.
“We have seen an increase in Hepatitis C in our communities and we are very concerned,” said Janet Gordon, director of health services at SLFNHA. “Other infections could be in our communities such as HIV because they are transmitted the same way.”
Gordon said Hepatitis C and HIV infect a disproportionate number of Aboriginal people compared to the rest of Canada, in some studies 3.5 times higher.
SLFNHA serves 31 First Nation communities in northwestern Ontario, and in 2010, it detected a large increase in the number of cases of Hep C in the communities. It also learned that HIV infection rates have increased within the Aboriginal population in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and the disease appears to be spreading from west to east across Canada.
Hepatitis C, or Hep C, is a virus that settles primarily in the liver and can cause permanent damage that can lead to liver failure or cancer, said Dr. Kathy Pouteau, a member of ST/BBI and who is the community doctor in Kasabonika Lake.
“Most people will not actually feel symptoms from it,” she said. “They won’t know that they have it unless they get tested.”
Although there are a small number of cases where Hep C is spread through sexual contact, Pouteau said it is largely spread through blood-to-blood contact. This would include the sharing of needles or snorting devices when inhaling opiates like OxyContin.
Hep C is treatable and the type of treatment varies based on the strains of Hep C.
“Some people can be cured, and that they’ll have the virus completely removed from their body, but not everybody can be cured,” Pouteau said.
Although HIV is treatable, it is not curable.
HIV is a disease of the human immune system that causes AIDS and leads to life-threatening infections and cancer. Like Hep C, it can be transferred through unprotected sex, though it is often passed through blood-to-blood contact.
Saskatchewan has been dealing with a sharp rise in the cases of HIV in the province over the past 10 years. In February 2012, Dr. Johnmark Opondo, the medical health officer with the Saskatchewan HIV provincial leadership team, told Wawatay News that his province first saw a spike in Hep C cases, which was followed the next year by a rapid spread of HIV.
“If the risk factors are all there, all it takes is one or two HIV positive people and it can spread,” Opondo said.
It is that urgency that has led SLFNHA to launch its campaign now, in the hopes of preventing a similar situation as that faced by Saskatchewan.
Gordon and her team encourage everyone who has shared needles or snorting devices, or who have had unprotected sex, to get tested for Hep C and HIV so that doctors can start treatment and help stop the diseases from transmitting to other people.
Pouteau said it is also crucial for everyone to protect themselves, especially by using clean equipment during drug injection, and using condoms during sex.
Individuals can access testing for Hep C at their local health unit or nursing station.
Pouteau said the campaign also aims to defuse myths and the stigma behind the infections.
Gordon said the campaign will feature culturally relevant print and radio advertisements over the next couple months in regional media. It will also include postcards, audio and video PSA’s for distribution to First Nations communities.
The ST/BBI Working Group was formed in 2011 in response to the increase of opiate drug abuse and the detection of hepatitis C in the region. The group consists of representatives from Health Canada, SLFNHA, the Northwest Health Unit, physicians and nurses.