Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver and it can cause serious damage to the liver, leading to its failure. Viral infection is the leading cause of hepatitis. Hepatitis virus A and E are usually self-limiting and can be treated with no major long-term consequences. They are usually acquired by consumption of contaminated food and water.
Hepatitis B and C infection commonly remain silent for many decades in the body and lead to chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver failure and sometimes cause liver cancer as well. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 40 million Indians are chronically infected with hepatitis B and 6 to 12 million with hepatitis C infections.
An alarming 95% of these infected people, don't even know it till they are diagnosed with cirrhosis and liver cancer. A simple universal blood screening test for everybody is the only way to overcome this problem, says Dr. Chalapathi Rao Achanta, consultant medical gastroenterologist, KIMS ICON Hospital, Visakhapatnam, ahead of the World Hepatitis Day, to be observed on July 28.
The infections are generally identified during screening before a blood donation, an international travel, a surgery or job recruitment, which could result in loss of a golden opportunity. They rush to a liver specialist in a panic situation to seek medical help.
Hepatitis B and C are transmitted in many ways like sharing of contaminated needles, razors, syringes, receiving contaminated blood during transfusion, surgeries and procedures using unclean equipment, sexual contact and from mother to child.
“When viral hepatitis infection is detected, tests like liver function tests, PCR tests, various antigen, antibody tests and ultrasound scan are done. A newer modality called fibro scan now will allow us to estimate the amount of liver scarring/fibrosis/damage that happened without the need of liver biopsy. These tests allow us to assess the damage happened to the liver and also to estimate the severity/load of viral infection and treat accordingly” says Dr. Chalapathi Rao.
“Hepatitis B is a vaccine preventable disease. Three shots of vaccine over 6 months will provide maximum prevention against this infection. Though an effective vaccine is currently lacking to prevent hepatitis C infection, the availability of generic medicines in India, at a cheaper cost, makes it affordable and curable in more than 98 % of the cases,” he added.
