Published Date: 23 July 2010
By CATHERINE SALMOND
"I FELT dirty and very confused, catapulted back to a place in time I did not want to go."
Petra Wright's life was in full swing. Working as a marketing officer with one of the Capital's leading financial institutions, she was successful, happily married and the proud mum of a teenage son.
So when her doctor told her the joint-pain, fatigue and depression she had recently been feeling were the result of a life-limiting blood virus - Hepatitis C - her knees nearly buckled beneath her.
She knew why she had it - the result of drug taking some 20 years beforehand when she was a rebellious youth who "knew everything, but in reality, absolutely nothing".
"I was very emotional," the 56-year-old explains. "I felt as though I had just fallen off the edge of the doctor's desk."
Like many people who contract Hepatitis C, Petra did so because of injecting drugs, inheriting the virus through blood-to-blood contact with an infected user, most likely through a syringe.
She is the first to admit how "stupid" her actions were - and nobody will live with the consequences more painfully than herself.
But as new statistics today reveal that cases of Hepatitis C across the Lothians are rising - and set to reach a record 10-year high - she is fighting for better awareness of the condition. Society simply does not know enough about Hepatitis C, she argues, but its existence affects everyone.
Drug users are not the only people at risk of getting the virus - any activity that can involve blood-to-blood contact may put someone in danger.
The list of scenarios is therefore long - getting a tattoo or piercing, a blood transfusion or acupuncture, or working in a hospital, are just a few examples.
Back in 2002, actress and model Pamela Anderson, the former star of Baywatch, revealed she had Hepatitis C, claiming she caught it from her ex-husband, musician Tommy Lee Jones, pictured far right with Anderson, after they shared a tattoo needle.
Other cases have also been revealed in recent years by former midwives who believe they were infected at work.
"The main transmission route is definitely drugs," Bo'ness-based Petra explains. "But it does not stop there. Any blood-to-blood contact can put someone at risk.
"In Asia, Hepatitis C is often spread through religious practices, such as circumcisions. I know one woman who can only attribute getting the virus to a 'dodgy tattoo' she had done.
It's not just needles that have to be clean - a pot of ink can carry the virus if a contaminated needle has been dipped in it."
If Petra, who is now the Scottish officer for the Hepatitis C Trust, could change anything about the public's perception of the virus, it would be the common misunderstanding that it is only the "drug users' disease".
"Sadly, it's not just the general public who can make that assumption though," she sighs. "It can be health professionals too. I have met people who, as soon as they were diagnosed with the virus, were asked if they used drugs - it was the first question posed to them.
"Others were advised by medics to be careful who they told about their condition. It's like being told to keep a secret.
"Hepatitis C certainly isn't talked about enough - there is a stigma about it. One thing that does not seem to come across as a result is that in the UK there are three times more people with Hepatitis C than with HIV, yet the concentration remains on HIV. We need to focus on getting rid of Hepatitis C."
Although there is no vaccine, Hepatitis C can be cured through treatment and the earlier the virus is diagnosed, and the earlier treatment starts, the better chances of recovery are.
Andrew Orr should know. The 46-year-old, also from Bo'ness, found out he had the virus just under four years ago. He had always had a suspicion. Many years of on-and-off drug abuse increased the likelihood, yet he refused to face up to the fact something was wrong.
Eventually, with multiple health problems, including poor concentration, fatigue and joint pains, he went to the doctor and was dealt the devastating blow of a diagnosis.
"I had waited so long that my liver was already diseased and I had gall bladder and other problems," he says. "I wasn't really surprised to be told I had the virus. I took a long time trying to ignore the facts and looked to blame something else for my health problems."
Andrew was one of the lucky ones as doctors began treating his condition immediately for a year, through gruelling injections and medication, allowing him to be clear of the virus.
"I think there is still a lot of stigma about Hepatitis C that isn't deserved," he says. "So to anyone reading this, worried they may have the virus, I say to them there is a cure, go and be tested and don't ever leave it as long as I did."
Petra's situation is somewhat different. Like many sufferers of the condition, it took many decades for any symptoms of the virus to show. The result was she lived with it with 20 years, unaware, raising a son, developing a career and enjoying life with her much-loved husband.
"The thought I may have passed the virus on to my son was my biggest concern. It was just terrible," she says. "Thankfully he was fine. My husband and I decided not to tell many people at first though and just kept it within the family.
Eventually, the more I said 'Hepatitis C', the easier it got."
Petra was told back in 1991 she was carrying Hepatitis C antibodies, but a full diagnosis was not made until 2003. A year later she started treatment, but is yet to be have any success.
She is to begin her next course of drugs soon, a programme which will last 48 weeks.
"What would it like to have the all clear?" she sighs. "Absolutely wonderful. It would be great not to be infectious to anyone any more."
Any treatment for the virus does not come without risks. Although Petra already suffers from memory loss and depression as a result of the condition, her last course of treatment resulted in a psychotic side-effect, something doctors are planning to address this time around through medication.
For now, Petra looks ahead to the future, quietly hopeful there will good news for her around the corner.
And she hopes awareness of the condition will continue to grow.
"The drug-user perception concerns me right now," she says.
"For example, I got Hepatitis C more than 30 years ago. It is not right to keep labelling people for the folly of their youth."
The facts behind a treatable disease
IT is a blood-borne virus affecting many parts of the body - including the brain and the digestive system - but mainly attacks the liver, often leading to cancer, liver disease, or death.
The virus was only discovered in the 1980s and there are still aspects that are not fully understood.
Around 170 million people worldwide are thought to have Hepatitis C.
A common misunderstanding of the virus is that sufferers cannot be cured - they certainly can be.
Treatment success rates are as high as 80 per cent, but there is not yet a vaccine.
For more information or advice, visit http://www.hepctrust.org.uk/ or call the national helpline on 0845 223 4424.
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