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World Hepatitis Day
2011
World Hepatitis Day 2001 was observed on Thursday, the
28th July 2011. July 28 also marks Professor Baruch Blumberg’s birthday, winner of the
1976 Nobel Prize for his discovery of the virus that causes Hepatitis B.
This is the first year that World Hepatitis Day is celebrated as a result of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Resolution on Viral
Hepatitis on 21 May, 2010. The WHO Resolution also expresses concern
about the lack of progress in the prevention, control, and treatment of
viral hepatitis around the world.
On World Hepatitis Day 2011, a group of leading experts in viral hepatitis is urging
governments and the public across Asia Pacific to increase awareness of
the disease. The group, known as CEVHAP (Coalition to Eradicate Viral Hepatitis in
Asia Pacific), was recently formed to address the lack of awareness and
political will to tackle issues associated with viral hepatitis. Viral hepatitis, particularly Hepatitis B and C, affects one in 12
people worldwide, claiming the lives of approximately one million people
every year. Asia Pacific carries the major part of the global burden of
viral hepatitis.
India and China together have an estimated 123 million people
chronically infected with Hepatitis B and 59 million people chronically
infected with Hepatitis C, accounting for almost 50 percent of all infections worldwide.
Viral hepatitis is a life-threatening disease, a situation made worse by the fact that a large proportion of those infected do not know that they carry the virus.
While chronic hepatitis is a silent disease with little or no symptoms for many years, it is also a silent disease when it comes to public awareness and government attention.
Symptoms
Initial features are of nonspecific flu-like symptoms, common to almost
all acute viral infections and may include malaise , muscle
and joint aches , fever , nausea or vomiting , diarrhea
, and headache . More specific symptoms , which can be present in acute hepatitis from any cause, are: profound loss of
appetite , a dark urine , yellowing
of the eyes and skin (i.e., jaundice
) and abdominal discomfort. Physical findings are usually minimal, apart
from jaundice in a third and tender hepatomegaly (swelling of the liver) in about 10%.
Chronic hepatitis often leads to nonspecific symptoms such as malaise,
tiredness and weakness, and often leads to no symptoms at all. The occurrence of jaundice indicates advanced liver damage. On
physical examination there may be enlargement of the liver.
Causes
There are various categories of Hepatitis infections and these are Hepatitis A, B, C, D,
E, all caused by different things though primarily leading to liver inflammation.
Hepatitis B is the most common, and can be passed from mother to baby at
birth or in early childhood through contaminated injections or injected drug use.
Hepatitis C is also spread through using unsterile needles and less
commonly through unsafe sex or sharing razors or toothbrushes.
The E virus, caught from infected water or food, is a common cause of
outbreaks of the disease in developing countries, said the World Health
Organization. Many of those carrying hepatitis are not aware they have it and can
unknowingly transmit it to others.
Hepatitis A is a viral liver disease that can cause mild to severe illness. * It is spread by faecal-oral (or stool to mouth) transmission when a person ingests food or drink contaminated by an infected person's stool.
The disease is closely associated with poor sanitation and a lack of personal hygiene habits, such as hand-washing.
Hepatitis C is also spread through using unsterile needles and less commonly through unsafe sex or sharing razors or toothbrushes.
The E virus, caught from infected water or food, is a common cause of
outbreaks of the disease in developing countries, said the World Health
Organization. Many of those carrying hepatitis are not aware they have it and can
unknowingly transmit it to others.
Global action to tackle the Hepatitis
viruses
Medical experts are calling for global action to tackle the viruses that
cause the liver disease hepatitis. The first worldwide estimates in drug users show 10 million have
hepatitis C while 1.3 million have hepatitis B. Writing in the Lancet, experts say only a fraction of those who could
benefit are receiving antiviral drugs.
Only one in five infants around the world are vaccinated against
hepatitis B at birth, they say. The figures, published in the Lancet, show about 67% of injecting drug
users in the world have been exposed to hepatitis C, while around 10%
have come into contact with hepatitis B. |
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