Three years ago, Anthony Cooper was living in a tent when he overdosed on fentanyl. It was the first time he smoked it.
“This is something new to me. I asked questions about it, and I was told it was something else,” he said.
Cooper is 53 and has HIV. When he overdosed, he was surprised to find out he was positive for hepatitis C. The viral infection can cause cirrhosis or liver cancer if left untreated.
“I kind of freaked out because I was like, I didn’t understand,” Cooper said. “I still don’t understand fully about hep C. I’m trying to learn.”
According to county data, hepatitis C infections have started to slowly decline in San Diego County. But, health experts said thousands of people with infections are still going undetected.
Cooper is one of almost 400 participants in a study conducted by UC San Diego and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Mexico. The research, published this week, found people in San Diego and Tijuana who smoke and inject fentanyl are at increased risk of contracting hepatitis C.
The research suggests because the high from fentanyl is short lived it may lead to more frequent use and sharing of syringes and smoking materials, increasing the risk of transmission.
Dr. Joseph Friedman, a resident physician in the department of psychiatry at UC San Diego, is one the researchers. He said hepatitis C can be cured with just a four-week course of medication.
“We need to take a look at what's going on with the drugs in this country as a priority area. We want to reduce not just overdose deaths, but also infectious disease deaths,” he said.
Steffanie Strathdee from UC San Diego School of Medicine has been working in the border region since 2004.
She said raising awareness and education are crucial to the elimination of hepatitis C.
“We need mobile programs that go to where the people live and whether that's in the canyon or a park or what have you. And we need those mobile testing programs to be there and link those people to care right away,” she said.
Harm reduction is also important, she said.
“To test their drugs, to see what's in it so that they don't unmistakably, you know, use fentanyl like Anthony did,” Strathdee said.
Cooper agreed.
“If you give some people the message, it’ll get across. But you have to go in there with the people. Because you just can’t think that you gonna send it out on TV and air it on TV. Cause where we got TV at? We live outside in a tent.”
