In every 30 seconds one person dies from hepatitis related illness.. More than 304million people are living with chronic hepatitis B & C and more than 1.3milion people die every year for Hep. B & C alone. Interestingly only 45% of babies received the Hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth in 2022. This is a huge problem and for this every year world hepatitis day is being celebrated on 28th July to create awareness among public as well as health care providers . This year theme has been chosen appropriately ‘it’s time for action’ said Dr sushant sethi , senior gastroenterologist and liver specialist of our state.
He said Viral hepatitis are of 5 types namely A,B,C,D, &E . Out of them A&E are spread by contaminated food and water. Mostly they are self/limiting & clinically manifested by jaundice preceded by fever, generalized weakness and might associated with loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting etc. Some times they produce epidemic and may present with acute liver failure which is fatal and necessitates ‘Liver transplant’ in selected cases.
In contrast hepatitis B & C are transmitted by blood, blood products, needle , syringes ,dialysis, surgery , tattooing & piercing etc. A significant proportion cases of hepatitis B are either from mother to baby(vertical) or from family and community (horizontal).
Unlike Hepatitis A& E which do not cause chronicity ,Hep B& C go into chronic illness and can cause chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, Liver failure and liver cancer etc. Unfortunately most causes of chronic Hepatitis B& C are asymptomatic and detected by serology or else when some complication or problem occurs. But that might be too late by that time. We have an effective vaccine for hepatitis B when taken in three doses can prevent Hepatitis B and it’s complications. Hepatitis B virus was discovered by professor Samuel Bloomberg whose birthday is being observed as ‘World Hepatitis day’ . He also developed vaccine and test for hepatitis B for which he got the novel prize.
World health organization has set a goal to eliminate Hepatitis from globe by 2030 . The key to achieve this is to spread awareness about the viruses and to adopt universal vaccination for hepatitis B. Effective treatment for hepatitis c is also available now.
The prevalence of hepatitis B in India is around 40 million which is around 10% of global figure . Similarly 6-12 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis C .
In Odisha various series have showed hep B prevalence as 5%- 12% and hep C roughly 1%. The State government has already declared Hepatitis B and C as notifiable disease.. So all health care providers of Govt., pvt. And NGO sectors should take appropriate measure for timely notification to district surveillance officer.
By this we can prevent mortality, morbidity and substantial economic loss due to hepatitis related illness. So now it’s time for action Dr sethi added.
Dr. sushant kumar sethi
Sr.Consultant-Gastroenterologist & Hepatologist
Apollo Hospital,Omega healthcare & sanjeevani gastro & liver clinic, Bhubaneswar
