The world faces a growing threat from hepatitis because too many people do not realise the risk posed by some lifestyles, experts have warned.
To mark World Hepatitis Day this Sunday, the World Health Organisation has launched a global report on the threat from hepatitis, "a chronic and fatal disease affecting millions of people".
The authors explain that viral hepatitis causes acute and chronic disease, say the WHO. It kills 1.4 million people every year, but many people infected with chronic hepatitis B and C are unaware because symptoms can take decades to appear. However they could still transmit the disease to others and are at high risk of severe liver disease.
The report is the largest survey ever published on hepatitis, with results from 126 countries. It also outlines the global response to this group of diseases.
Dr Sylvia Briand, of WHO, said: “Many of the measures needed to prevent the spread of viral hepatitis disease can be put in place right now and, and doing so will offset the heavy economic costs of treating and hospitalising patients in future.
“The findings underline the important work that is being done by governments to halt hepatitis through the implementation of WHO recommended policies and actions.”
In England, figures released today show a rise of a third in hepatitis C diagnoses in 2012.
There were a total of 10,873 cases in 2012, up from 7,882 cases in 2010. The rate of diagnoses in London almost trebled to 2,844 in 2012, from 954 in 2010. Full details are published by Public Health England (PHE).
Dr Helen Harris of PHE said: "While there has been an increase in confirmed cases of hepatitis C infection, partly as a result of increased testing and partly because of improved laboratory reporting, sadly, many people chronically infected with hepatitis C remain unaware of their infection.
"It is therefore vital to raise awareness about this condition so that more individuals are diagnosed and treated. Antiviral therapies exist that will clear the virus in most cases, yet only around three per cent of the chronically infected population in England access them each year."
One British expert, Professor Matthew Hickman, of Bristol University, UK, called for more needle and syringe programmes to prevent the spread of the disease among drug users.
He said: "Our model projections show that scaling up opiate substitution therapy and high coverage needle and syringe programmes can reduce the number of HCV treatments required to achieve reductions in HCV – and emphasises the importance of a combination of interventions. Further research is needed to examine the cost effectiveness and affordability of scaling up HCV treatment."
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