Pubdate: Thu, 20 May 1999 Source: Illawarra Mercury (Australia) Copyright: Illawarra Newspapers Contact: http://mercury.illnews.com.au/ HEP C DRIVES NEEDLE NEED The hepatitis C epidemic in Australia should give impetus to the NSW Government to properly resource needle and syringe programs, lobbyists said yesterday. Hepatitis C Council of NSW executive officer Stuart Loveday said the drug summit should come up with resolutions focusing on reduction of blood-borne diseases. Mr Loveday said with 30 new hepatitis C infections in Australia every day, the disease was the fastest-spreading blood-borne infection. Most cases were caused by people sharing equipment used to inject illicit drugs. ``Needle and syringe programs have proved to be a spectacular success in preventing an HIV epidemic among people who inject drugs,'' he said. ``Evidence shows that existing programs have substantially lowered hepatitis C prevalence rates among people new to drug injecting.'' He said needle and syringe programs had prevented 2000 hepatitis C transmissions each year. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart