Related Pages

Hepatitis C contents

Essential facts

Diagnosis and management

Statistics

Hepatitis-related links

Pamphlet
(pdf format)

Hepatitis C Surveillance in South Australia

Hepatitis C Medical Notification 01/04/01 - 30/06/01

In the second quarter of 2001, medical notifications of hepatitis C infection were received for 234 individuals, 161 (63%) males and 95 (37%) females.

Among the notifications, 26 cases were reported as having an earlier positive test (pre-1995), whilst 76 individuals had never been tested before for hepatitis C infection. In a further 94 cases the testing history was unknown. Of 38 individuals with a previous negative test, 23 were tested more than 12 months earlier and 15 were tested within the last year. In 146 (70%) instances, past or present injecting drug use was reported as a likely transmission route for hepatitis C virus (Table 2.1).

At the time of diagnosis, the majority of males (62%) were aged between 20 and 39 years, while most females (77%) were in the 20 - 49 year age range (Table 2.2). Of two males and 11 females aged less than twenty years (13 cases), 11 had a history of injecting drug use.

Newly acquired infections - Incident Cases

Incident cases are infections acquired in the last 12 months, and are identified by recent seroconversion for hepatitis C antibodies or a positive test accompanied by acute clinical illness not ascribed to other causes.

Seventeen incident cases were identified during the quarter, 15 had negative serology in the preceding 12 months and two were clinical diagnoses. The incident cases comprised 12 males and five females. In 16 cases the likely mode of transmission for hepatitis C virus was injecting drug use, and the transmission route is not yet known in one case (Table 2.3). At the time of diagnosis most (76%) were less than 30 years of age (Table 2.4).

Collated laboratory data for hepatitis C antibody tests performed during the quarter are shown in Table 2.5.

Table 2.1 Hepatitis C infection, new diagnoses 01/04/01 - 30/06/01 and year to date.
               Exposure category by sex.

^{1 Includes IDU in combination with other categories.}

^{2 Residence/medical treatment in a high prevalence country.}

^{3 Includes occupational exposure; household, perinatal & sexual transmission; 
   body piercing/ acupunture.}

Table 2.2 Hepatitis C infection, new diagnoses 01/04/01 - 30/06/01 and year to date.
               Age group by sex.

Table 2.3 Newly acquired hepatitis C infections (Incident cases*),
               01/04/01 - 30/06/01 and year to date. Exposure category by sex.

^{* Incident cases are newly acquired infections, see text.}

Table 2.4 Newly acquired hepatitis C infections (Incident cases*), 
               01/04/01 - 30/06/01 and year to date. Age group by sex.

^{* Incident cases are newly acquired infections, see text.}

Table 2.5 Summary of laboratory tests for hepatitis C antibodies,
01/04/01 - 30/06/01 and year to date. Laboratory by sex.

Top of Page