Mostly patients are unaware that they have hepatitis,” says Dr Sanjay Kumar senior gastroentologist at Gastrocare liver and Digestive Disease Centre, Bhopal.
Observing the World Hepatitis Day here on Monday, Dr Sanjay Kumar threw light on hepatitis and its effects.
While talking to mediapersons he said the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that nearly 400 million people have chronic viral hepatitis worldwide and most of them did not even know they were infected. If they didn’t know they had it, they could be spreading it.
This year the campaign theme for World Hepatitis Day is prevention of viral hepatitis.
Discussing the magnitude of the problem of viral hepatitis Dr Kumar said “Viral Hepatitis is a leading cause of global infectious diseases mortality each year, causing approximately 1.4 million deaths from causes related to viral hepatitis, commonly cirrhosis and liver cancer.”
He further said that in India, Hep-C is a ‘hidden epidemic’. According to WHO, there are about 12 million people chronically infected with Hep-C. Dr Kumar said viral hepatitis was a group of infectious diseases known as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E affecting millions of people worldwide, and causing acute and chronic liver disease.
“Transmission of this virus can be prevented through better awareness and services that improve vaccinations, blood and injection safety, and reduce harm. With better awareness and understanding of how we can prevent hepatitis we can eliminate this disease and save 4,000 lives a day.”
The best way to prevent the onset of this disease is to maintain a hygienic lifestyle, he added. He also said that Know Your liver can also help. The Centre will offer free of charge Hepatitis B and C test, he added.