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“Hepatitis C: a review of Australia’s
response”
Prepared by David Lowe and Ruth Cotton
for the Department of Health and Aged Care, January 1999,
Publication Production Unit (Public Affairs, Parliamentary and
Access Branch) Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged
Care, Canberra
“The newly diagnosed person also has to
make decisions about who to tell about the diagnosis and to be
aware of the possible consequences.
Many report feeling isolated, ‘permanently scarred’
or ‘tainted’. People
living with hepatitis C live with fears, myths and
misinformation about the disease and with the projected
anxieties of others.”
“Discrimination, or the potential for
it, is often reported. Hepatitis
C has acquired the label ‘the drug addict’s disease’,
thus adding to the stigma attached to a communicable disease.
Discrimination can occur in social networks and in
institutional settings such as schools, hospital, health and
dental clinics, and child-care facilities, affecting access to
services.” Pg.
5-6
"Some (people who are positive for
Hepatitis C Virus) have said they feel ‘marked’, ‘tainted’,
‘permanently scarred’, ‘ostracized’.
Many live with misinformation, myths and the
projected fears and anxieties of non-infected people (family
members, friends, work mates, the media) as well as others
who have the virus.”
Pg 72
“Discrimination can occur in a variety
of contexts. Much
of the discrimination people living with hepatitis C
experience is a result of beliefs, values and attitudes
associated with injecting drug use (that is, user phobia).”
“A person whose hepatitis C diagnosis
becomes widely know may experience discrimination from broad
social networks—friends, local businesses, sporting groups,
and institutions such as schools, hospitals, health and dental
clinics, and child care facilities.
Many instances of discrimination
experienced by people living with hepatitis C have been
reported. Examples
are access to children being denied because of a parent’s
hepatitis C status; difficulty obtaining dental or medical
care because of hepatitis C status; parents not allowing their
children to play with children of hepatitis C—infected
parents; discrimination based on the perception that all
people with hepatitis C are drug users; and discrimination in
the workplace (particularly in the hospitality industry).
At home, a person living with the virus
may find their relationships change within the family unit.
The family will often make changes to personal hygiene
and daily living habits to decrease the risk of household
transmission. This
can be very isolating for the infected person….
….The different forms of discrimination
reflect the differing effects of misinformation in the broader
community, combined with general ‘germ phobia’ which is
strongly attached to use phobia.
The myths, misrepresentation and misinformation about
hepatitis C are extensive. “ pg 74
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