Inside: Read the CDC Report and
Local 22 Press Release with Details on Thursday's Rally
HEATHER CASEY
Firehouse.Com News
Philadelphia firefighters are charged up more than ever for the "Hepatitis C Awareness March" Thursday despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recent report calling the department's infection rate normal and stating that rescue workers are at no greater risk of contracting the blood-borne disease than the general public.
"[The report] shows me that they are ignorant of what we do in our profession," said Stephen Hess, public relations director of Local 22.
"It's definitely not going to affect the rally. Our phones are ringing off the hook with firefighters coming from every place imaginable. They're not being deterred by this," he said.
The CDC undertook its study after news of a high hepatitis C rate in Philadelphia aroused concerns among fire departments across the country.
"I quite frankly thought they were going to appear on the scene like superman and try to help us - instead they hurt us," Hess said.
About half the Philadelphia Fire Department's personnel has been tested, with 6.8 percent of them showing positive for the infection, Hess said.
The CDC, however, estimated the department's overall hepatitis C rate at 3 percent, and said this rate should not be compared to the 1.8 percent national average rate of the general population, but to the average rate for men between the ages of 30 and 59, which is 5 percent.
Philadelphia firefighters disagree with the CDC report.
"I'd just like to know how they conducted that study," Hess said. "We haven't been contacted by them - that's what's so perplexing."
Hess argued the CDC didn't take into consideration that rescue workers regularly deal with the blood of groups with high infection rates, such as alcoholics and drug users. "We are coming into contact with people at these rates that would skew their entire theory," Hess said. "We respond to every shooting, stabbing and drug overdose in the city. Blood is coming out all over the place."
"The CDC has no idea what they're talking about regarding rescue personnel," Hess said. "Who the hell do they think they are to make a statement like that? I think they are politically motivated - I don't understand how anyone could be that ignorant."
The Philadelphia Fire Department would welcome a complete CDC testing and study of its members, Hess said. "We've been waiting for it," he said. The union contacted the CDC several months ago asking for help setting up a testing and education program, but "All I got was a run around," Hess said. "They didn't respond to any of that."
So far, 152 Philadelphia firefighters are known to be infected with hepatitis C. Most believe they contracted the virus after contact with the blood infected rescue victims. The CDC, however, maintains that the virus is usually transmitted through contaminated needles used by intravenous drug users or through high-risk sexual activity. The virus was also passed through blood transfusions until 1992, when screening for the virus became available.
The CDC report states that, "The results of five studies, which were conducted in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Connecticut, Miami, and Pittsburgh, consistently showed that first responders (firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics) are at low risk for HCV infection. After a needle stick contaminated with HCV-positive blood, the average risk for infection is 1.8%, and transmission rarely occurs from mucous membrane exposures to blood. Based on these findings, CDC does not recommend routine HCV testing of first responders unless they have a history indicating an increased risk for infection (e.g., blood transfusion before July 1992 or injection drug use)."
On Thursday, the last day of the Republican National Convention, Local 22 hopes to have more than 1,000 firefighters from across the country and Canada marching through the city to raise awareness about hepatitis C. The union's ultimate goal is to have the disease given IN-LINE-OF-DUTY status, meaning the city would recognize it as a job related illness and be responsible for treatment.
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