First World Hepatitis Day aims to raise awareness and promote understanding

Based on the research findings that approximately one out of every twelve people around the globe are infected with chronic hepatitis C or B, the WHA is using the question as a headline for their campaign, running in 64 countries, which aims to raise awareness about the virus and change the public stigma associated with it(1).

Viral hepatitis is an infection of the liver and has many types.

Hepatitis C type is caused by the widespread hepatitis C virus (HCV), which affects 180 million people worldwide.

It is estimated that 3-4 million people are newly-infected with HCV each year.

However, patients suffering from the disease can live for years without experiencing any symptoms and, as a result, a large number of them remain undiagnosed and consequently untreated.

'It is essential that people learn more about hepatitis C, and understand the dangers of carrying it if undetected,' says Dr Wagdy Emile, specialist Gastroenterologist at Al Moosa Medical Centre in Dubai. 'The disease may progress for many years without symptoms and can eventually lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure if not treated.' 'On the pother hand, if the disease is detected early, there is a very high chance for it to be cured' he added.

While the focus of World Hepatitis Day is to raise awareness among people about the disease and the importance of early detection, it is also aims to promote understanding of hepatitis C virus carriers.

Dr Ahed Yosry, medical doctor at Roche said:

'A lot of people think that hepatitis C can be spread through daily social interaction, so they tend to discriminate against people who suffer from the disease and avoid them. In fact, the virus is mainly transmitted through direct contact with infected blood, meaning that the people most at risk are those who share needles or have received blood transfusions with infected blood before 1992. Otherwise, hepatitis C sufferers can enjoy normal lives with regular social interaction without posing a danger to anyone around them'.

'Hepatitis C patients do not necessarily need to have a compromised life - on the contrary, they can even be treated and cured,' says Dr Wagdy, 'Although there is still no vaccine against the virus, scientific advancements have been very positive in the last decade and treatments such as Pegasys (pegylated interferon alfa-2a) have shown cure rates of up to 84% in some populations. My message to people who are at risk is to take a simple blood test and learn whether they have HCV because there is treatment available and there is hope for them'.

The most commonly used initial blood test for hepatitis C virus is the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

The ELISA tests for the presence of antibodies to the hepatitis C virus.

If the ELISA is positive, this generally means that there are antibodies against HCV in the person's blood; however, it does not necessarily mean that they have active hepatitis C disease.

It may simply be that the person was infected in the past and has already cleared the infection.

When the ELISA test is positive, doctors will perform the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test which determines whether there is still virus in the blood or not.

According to the World health Organization, the percentage of people infected with the HCV virus in the MEA region is 1-2%.

Statistics from the organization also show that 0.83% of the UAE population has the virus while in Kuwait the percentage is as high as 3.3%. In Oman it is 0.9%, Qatar 2.8% and Yemen 2.6%.