Hepatitis, in its many forms, is a serious threat to health, and what all forms have in common is the inflammation they cause in the liver. About 400 million people globally are affected with viral hepatitis which is about 10 times more than the number of people affected with HIV. The total number of deaths each year is estimated to be about 1.4 million. Only 1 in 20 people with hepatitis know of their infection and less than 1 per cent undergo treatment, according to Dr. Pradeepta Kumar Sethy, Director, Department of Gastroenterology, Medica Superspecialty Hospital here. World Hepatitis Day is held on July 28 every year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against hepatitis Dr Sethy said viral hepatitis is also a serious problem in India with a high proportion of liver diseases caused by hepatitis viruses – named as hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D, E and G, respectively. Hepatitis A (HAV) and Hepatitis E (HEV) viruses are responsible for majority of the sporadic and epidemic cases of acute viral hepatitis in India.
They are mostly spread through contaminated water and food. The average estimated carrier rate of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) in India is 4 per cent, with a total pool of approximately 36 million carriersz. He said Blood transfusions constitute the most important route of HBV transmission among adults. Other routes of HBV transmission include intravenous drug use, unsafe therapeutic injections, occupational injuries, transmission during healthcare-related procedures such as surgery, haemo-dialysis, and organ transplantation and to lesser extent by perinatal transmission.
Dr Sethy said the estimated prevalence of Hepatitis C (HCV) infection in India is about 1–1.9 per cent and like HBV, HCV is mostly spread through blood transfusions. HCV genotype 3 is reported as the most common genotype in India, accounting for 54–80 per cent of cases. Apart from acute infections, both HBV and HCV can cause chronic infection in humans of which 30 per cent will develop progressive liver disease culminating in cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), he said (UNI)
