All of us know about AIDS and the terrible toll this infection has taken around the world over the past two to three decades. Most of us are aware that tuberculosis remains a major threat. How many of us realize the extent of the worldwide spread of hepatitis?
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently established the first World Hepatitis Day which was observed on July 28, 2011. Among the nearly seven billion people living on this planet, nearly 500 million suffer from chronic hepatitis B or chronic hepatitis C. That figure translates to 7% of the world’s population.
There are several different types of hepatitis virus ranging from hepatitis A to G. All can cause inflammation of the liver and lead to yellow jaundice, nausea, lethargy and weight loss. Severe cases can be fatal. If a person’s body successfully fights off the infection, the individual recovers within a few weeks and the infection is viewed as “acute.” If the infection persists for six months or longer, it is termed “chronic” and will often last for years and even decades. According to the WHO, approximately one million people died from chronic hepatitis B or chronic hepatitis C last year.
If there’s good news to be found in this regard, it’s that a large majority of hepatitis cases are preventable. There are effective vaccines available against hepatitis A and hepatitis B. These vaccines are commonly given to infants and children in the United States (and hopefully, someday, to children throughout the world). Several types of hepatitis are totally preventable by practicing safe sex, by not injecting drugs of abuse, and by not sharing razors or blood-sugar-testing devices.
For further information about acute or chronic hepatitis, go to http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis. By the time we reach the second World Hepatitis Day in July 2012, it will be interesting to see how we have fared both in the U.S. and in the rest of the world against this under-recognized epidemic.
Brad Gascoigne, M.D.
Smart Readers Health Column
