Multiple modes of hepatitis A virus transmission among methamphetamine users

Am J Epidemiol. 2000 Jul 15;152(2):186-92. doi: 10.1093/aje/152.2.186.

Abstract

Methamphetamine users are at increased risk of hepatitis A, but modes of transmission are unclear. The authors conducted a case-control study among methamphetamine users during an outbreak in Iowa in 1997. Twenty-eight reported, laboratory-confirmed, hepatitis A cases did not differ from 18 susceptible controls with respect to age, sex, or number of doses used. When compared with controls in multivariate analysis, case-patients were more likely to have injected methamphetamine (odds ratio (OR) = 5.5, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1, 27), to have used methamphetamine with another case-patient (OR = 6.2, 95% CI: 0.95, 41), and to have used brown methamphetamine (OR = 5.5, 95% CI: 0.51, 59). Receptive needle sharing was reported by 10 of the 20 case-patients who injected. Methamphetamine use with another case-patient was also associated with hepatitis A in an analysis restricted to noninjectors (OR = 17, 95% CI: 1.0, 630). During this outbreak, hepatitis A may have been transmitted from person to person among methamphetamine users through the fecal-oral and the percutaneous routes. Methamphetamine users should be vaccinated against hepatitis A and should be given immune globulin if they used methamphetamine with a case-patient in the last 2 weeks. Persons who intend to continue using methamphetamine should be advised about safer practices.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Amphetamine-Related Disorders / complications*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Female
  • Hepatitis A / epidemiology
  • Hepatitis A / transmission*
  • Humans
  • Iowa / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Methamphetamine*
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Risk Factors
  • Substance Abuse, Intravenous / complications

Substances

  • Methamphetamine