page_title: Health of prisoners in Australia
section_title: Hepatitis C
hierarchical_section_title: Health of prisoners in Australia / Medical conditions / Infectious diseases / Hepatitis C
caption_attribution_description: English: Electron micrographs of hepatitis C virus purified from cell culture. Scale bar is 50 nanometers. Courtesy of the Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, The Rockefeller University.
context_page_description: Health care of prisoners in Australia is a major concern to prison institutions around Australia with prison populations increasing in both numbers and rate with an imprisonment rate of 187.3 per 100,000 adults.
  Prisoners in Australia are generally from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background, and have higher rates of tobacco smoking, illicit drug use and alcohol consumption in comparison to the general public. The disadvantages in socioeconomic background develops into a significant disparity in health between prisoners and the general public in Australia.
context_section_description: Hepatitis C is a blood-borne disease that primarily causes inflammation to the liver, and can be passed from person to person. It considered a major global health issue, with an estimated 180 million people carrying the disease worldwide. Mokhlis (2016) states that "More than 300,000 Australians are estimated to have been exposed to Acute Hepatitis C virus (HCV), of whom around 226,700 are living with chronic infection, including 16,000 Indigenous Australians".
  For prison inmates, it is most frequently transmitted by illicit drug use and by sharing unhygienic needles.
caption: Electron micrographs of the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV).
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