Prevalence of hepatitis C among injectors in Scotland 1989-2000: declining trends among young injectors halt in the late 1990s.

SUMMARY We previously reported a continual decline in anti-HCV prevalence among young injectorsfrom Glasgow and Lothian between 1990 and 1997. The original study was extended toascertain if the anti-HCV prevalence among injectors from Glasgow, Lothian, Tayside andGrampian had changed since 1997. Residual sera from injectors who had undergoneattributable anti-HIV testing were tested anonymously for anti-HCV. In all four regions, nosignificant changes in prevalence were found among those aged !25 years during the late1990s (Glasgow 1997–9}00: 43%–41%; Lothian 1997–9: 13%–17%; Tayside 1997–9:45%–35%; Grampian 1996–9: 28%–29%). Among those aged &25 years, significantdecreases in prevalence were only observed in Glasgow (1997–9}00: 79%–72%, P fl0–03) andLothian (1997–9: 54%–45%, P fl0–05). The findings highlight that existing harm reductionmeasures, acknowledged as having helped to reduce the spread of HCV, are not sufficient tobring this epidemic under control and reduce transmission to sporadic levels.