Viral hepatitis is the seventh leading cause of death worldwide. It kills more people than HIV/Aids every year. Few people are aware of these less well-known facts about hepatitis.

World Hepatitis Day (WHD)

WHD is celebrated every year on 28 July and the main aim of the day is to drastically boost the awareness of especially viral hepatitis as a major health concern and killer. In many parts of the world, people with hepatitis are stigmatised and discriminated against because of lack of understanding. In other parts the disease is ignored for the same reason and treated as less important than HIV/Aids, TB or malaria, despite being a bigger killer.

Know thy enemy

The word “hepatitis” is derived from the Greek and means inflammation of the liver. It is often caused by toxins, certain drugs, some diseases, heavy alcohol use and bacterial and viral infections. Infectious or viral hepatitis that kills an estimated 650 000 people each year, is a point in case.

The three most common forms of viral hepatitis are:

    • Hepatitis A
    • Hepatitis B
    • Hepatitis C (previously called hepatitis non-A, non-B).

Other recognised types of hepatitis are:

    • Hepatitis D
    • Hepatitis E
    • Hepatitis G.

Ten known and less well-known facts

  1. Viral hepatitis, especially hepatitis B and C infection, may not cause any known symptoms yet it will silently progress, over many years, to serious liver disease such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. This can, fortunately, be prevented by existing effective medicines.
  2. Hepatitis B and C can cause life-long infection (chronic infection), the leading cause of liver cirrhosis and cancer. Some 240 million people, especially in Africa and Asia, are infected with the chronic hepatitis B virus. An estimated 650000 die each year.
  3. Hepatitis B and C are usually spread by infected body fluids as in blood transfusions, sexual contact, by using contaminated needles and syringes and by mother-to-child transmission during birth.
  4. Every year 1.7 million people are infected with hepatitis B and 315000 with hepatitis C via unsafe injections. Fortunately, the WHO launched a new Injection Safety Programme in 2015 to raise awareness and provide guidance. Needles used for tattooing, body piercings, acupuncture and drug use, if not sterile, may also spread infection.
  5. Treatment can prolong life for people already infected with hepatitis but children need to be vaccinated, with a first dose given at birth, to protect them.
  6. No vaccines are available to prevent hepatitis C, D, or E but new, more effective medicines to prevent the progression of chronic hepatitis B and C are at present in the pipeline.
  7. Hepatitis A and E are food and water borne infections. Contamination can be avoided by frequently washing your hands, carefully handling food and only using and drinking clean or bottled water. Contamination can also occur through contact with the feaces (poop) of an infected person. There is an effective WHO approved vaccine for hepatitis A.
  8. Hepatitis D, is spread in much the same way as B and C. Interestingly enough, the hepatitis D virus needs hepatitis B to survive and is therefore often found in people who are already infected with hepatitis B. Getting the hepatitis B vaccine will therefore also help guard against hepatitis D infection. However, you need to be uninfected with the hepatitis B virus at the time of the vaccination for this to occur.
  9. Hepatitis G is still a mystery and what little is known suggests that the illness is mild and does not last long. It has been observed though that people who receive blood transfusions sometimes become infected with this virus.
  10. When a person has had one type of viral hepatitis infection in the past, it is still possible to get the other types.

 

Sources

 

Brichford, C. 2015. Five crucial ways to prevent hepatitis. Retrieved from: http://www.everydayhealth.com
Hepatitis. Retrieved from: http://www.encyclopedia.com
Thompson, D. 2010. What every pregnant woman should know about hepatitis B. retrieved from: http://www.everydayhealth.com
WHO issues its first hepatitis B treatment guidelines. 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int
World Hepatitis Alliance: how we work. Retrieved from: http://www.worldhepatitisalliance.org
World Hepatitis Day 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int