News
Monday, November 28, 2011
‘Over 10m people infected with Hepatitis C in Pakistan’KARACHI: “Over 10 million people are infected with Hepatitis-C Virus which is about six percent of the total population. Viral hepatitis has affecting about 400 million people, out of which one third cases are due to Hepatitis-C Virus (HCV) alone”. This was stated by Prof Dr Aqeel Ahmad, Director, Biological Research Centre (BRC), University of Karachi Centre.
He was delivering the lecture on ‘HCV: Disease and Prevention’ at Latif Ebrahim Jamal (LEJ) National Science Information Centre (NSIC) here on Saturday.
The lecture was jointly organised by Dr Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD) and Virtual Education Project Pakistan (VEPP) as a part of series of popular lectures for public awareness on common diseases of Pakistan.
He said that Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver generally due to viral infection caused by HAV, HBV, HCV, HDV, HEV, HFV, and HGV. He warned that a mortality rate, due to hepatitis C, is expected to soar in Pakistan.
Prof Ahmed said that hepatitis is inflammation of the liver generally due to viral infection caused by hepatitis viruses; these unrelated viruses have different epidemiologic profiles and are transmitted through different routes which are either water-borne, or spread through the blood, blood products or unethical medical or social practices.
He continued that Hepatitis viruses produce inflammation in the liver, resulting in clinical illness characterised by fever, and often non-specific symptoms like pain in abdomen, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and jaundice, adding that more than 70 percent of HCV infected patients become chronic, which might lead to death of patient.
Talking about prevention of the fatal disease, he said that there are some important preventive measures that include increasing awareness of the disease; blood screening before transfusion, avoiding re-use of syringes and sharing common household items such as razors and tooth brushes; training of healthcare workers; treating Hepatitis C patients with appropriate drugs including interferon.
A large number of health professionals, students, research scholars, NGOs representatives and general public attended the lecture. staff report
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk