‘90% of people infected with Hepatitis B unaware about their condition’

BHUBANESWAR: Around 90 per cent of 400 million people infected with Hepatitis-B virus are unaware about their condition. Experts said this while attending a programme on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day organised in the Siksha 'O' Anusandhan (SOA) deemed to be university here on Sunday.
Manoj Kumar Sahu, head of the department of gastroenterology at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, said, “The Hepatitis-B is 100 times more infectious than HIV which has been claiming a staggering 1.5 million lives worldwide every year.” The casualty caused by this deadly virus had increased by 22 per cent since 2000, he added.
Sahu said there were five strains of Hepatitis (the word meaning inflammation of the liver)- A, B,C,D and E- of which Hepatitis-B and C were the most common cause of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer in India.
“While Hepatitis-A and E were transmitted by ingestion of contaminated food and water, Hepatitis-B, C and D spread through contact with blood and infected body fluids,” Sahu said, adding, “The infection spread through receipt of contaminated blood or blood products, invasive medical procedures using contaminated equipment, sharing needles for injections and blades for shaving and sexual contact.”
The people, who do not know about their infection, are at high risk of developing chronic liver disease and complications and unknowingly keep transmitting the infection to healthy people. “Good thing is that a very effective vaccine is available since 1982 which can prevent Hepatitis B infection. This vaccine, he said, could be administered to any person of any age including pregnant women with the protection lasting a lifetime,” said the doctor.
Odisha assembly speaker Surya Narayan Patro attending the meeting as chief guest said that the programme should spread in the tribal belts as the incidence of the disease is high in those areas.
SOA vice chancellor Amit Banerjee said his institution had launched the SOA Adivasi Hepatitis Mission (SOAAHM) three years ago in a bid to screen tribal children against the disease and immunize them.
The SOA students took out a rally in the morning carrying placards to create awareness about the disease.