Henry County Health Department evaluating need for needle exchange

The Courier-Times reported in mid-July that the Henry County Health Department identified four new cases of Hepatitis C in the Henry County Jail. The blood testing is part of an effort by the health department to determine how significant an issue hepatitis and HIV are in the local community. Indiana allows communities to declare a public health emergency and set up a needle exchange program if there is an outbreak of Hepatitis C or HIV due to increased IV drug usage.

Mathis said before a community reaches the point a needle exchange is deemed necessary, intervention efforts must be tried and must have failed.

"Right now, we know we have to establish testing and education and try to make referals," he said. The plan is to continue to gather data and then discuss the matter with the Henry County Board of Health in October.

One method of determining HCV rates is to test high-risk populations, like the inmates at the local jail. Mathis recently said the national average for HCV infections is anywhere from one-third to one-half in jail populations.

In July, Henry County Health Department nursing director Deb Miller said that not all Hepatitis C virus (HCV) cases are due to IV drug use. Regular blood testing for transfusions and organ donation did not be begin until 1992.

If it eventually is determined there is a need for a local needle exchange program local entities like the health department will have to find a way to pay for it. Indiana law does not allow state or federal funding for needle exchange programs.