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Rethink about Hepatitis

Star health Desk
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, most commonly caused by a viral infection. It affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic liver disease and killing close to 1.4 million people every year. But hepatitis remains largely ignored or unknown. The disease is often stigmatised or misunderstood. We need to think again to change the perception.
There are five main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E causing hepatitis. These five types are of greatest concern because of the burden of illness and death they cause and the potential for outbreaks and epidemic spread. These viruses all cause acute hepatitis which is characterised by fatigue, loss of appetite, fever and jaundice. Most persons fully recover, but a small proportion of persons can die from acute hepatitis. In addition, hepatitis B and C infections can become chronic leading to cirrhosis and liver cancer in hundreds of millions of people and, together, are the most common cause of liver cirrhosis and cancer.
Hepatitis A and E are typically caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water. I lepatitis B, C and D usually occur as a result of parenteral contact with infected body fluids. Common modes of transmission for these viruses include receipt of contaminated blood or blood products, invasive medical procedures using contaminated equipment and for hepatitis B transmission from mother to
baby at birth, from family member to child, and also by sexual contact.
Acute infection may occur with limited or no symptoms, or may include symptoms such as jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes), dark urine, extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Viral hepatitis places a heavy burden on the health care system because of the costs of treatment of liver failure and chronic liver disease. Although the burden of disease is very high, the problem has not been addressed in a serious way for many reasons, including the relatively recent discovery of the causative viruses,
the mostly silent or benign nature of the disease in its early stages and the insidious way in which it causes chronic liver disease. Decades-long delay between infection and the expression of chronic liver disease or liver cancer made it difficult to link these diseases to earlier HBV or HCV infections. All these factors have resulted in "the silent epidemic" we are experiencing today.
Affordable measures, such as vaccination, safe blood supply, safe injections, and safe food, can reduce the transmission of viral hepatitis infections. Most of these measures not only reduce the transmission of viral hepatitis but also have spill over effects on the prevention of other infectious diseases.
Further, current therapies for hepatitis B and C give health care providers effective tools to combat the disease. For the first time in history, hepatitis C is curable. New therapies are also being developed for hepatitis B and C and the future is more promising than ever. Apart from interventions, awareness is the key to fight this silent epidemic. We all should work hand in hand to end this epidemic. Source: World Health Organisation