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Biomedical subjects

K Oman

Publications and source records attributed to K Oman.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Methadone maintenance and hepatitis C virus infection among injecting drug users.

Harm reduction strategies for the prevention of transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission among injecting drug users (IDUs) have been widely implemented in Australia and are seen to have been effective in preventing the spread of HIV. A major strategy has been increasing the availability of and accessibility to methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) programmes. We have reviewed the experience of a major MMT general practice with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection from 1991 to 1995. Of 1741 individuals tested for HCV antibodies at least once 66.7% were positive. Of 73 IDUs who were initially seronegative and were retested at least once, 19 were subsequently seropositive. Seroconverters to HCV were younger than non-seroconverters, and were more likely to have evidence of previous hepatitis B infection. The overall HCV incidence rate was 22 cases per 100 person-years, and this did not differ between those on MMT programs (continuous or interrupted) between HCV tests and those not on MMT. These findings suggest that the role of MMT in the control of the spread of HCV infection among IDUs needs further assessment, and that control of the current epidemic of HCV infection among IDUs in Australia will be very difficult.

Adult↗
PubMed1968

The stabilizing effect of gelatin on dilutions of various tuberculins.

Adsorption of highly diluted tuberculin to the inner surface of containers is particularly pronounced for acid-precipitated PPD, and certain such preparations are routinely issued with the non-ionic detergent Tween 80 as a stabilizing agent. It has been shown, however, that Tween 80, besides its anti-adsorptive effect, also has a depressive in vivo effect, especially on tuberculin reactions that would have been weak even for a test without Tween. The authors have shown in a previous report that gelatin (0.1%) also has an anti-adsorptive effect, without apparently modifying the reaction in vivo.In the present report, the effect of gelatin on tuberculins other than acid-precipitated PPD is examined, and the loss due to surface activity in the container is found to be considerably less, though still significant, for instance, for the International Standard of PPD of Mammalian Tuberculin. The loss is particularly pronounced, and the stabilizing effect of gelatin is particularly striking, for ampoules only partly filled (i.e., with an inner surface that is large in relation to the volume of the content).It is suggested that gelatin, or some similar substance with little or no in vivo action, might be used more readily, and for more kinds of tuberculin, than Tween 80, provided that further critical studies do not reveal any so far unknown factor.

Drug Stability↗