13 million hepatitis carriers in Pakistan

Around 13 million people across the country are carriers of hepatitis. This was stated by Dr Huma Qureshi, Director of Pakistan Medical and Research Council, addressing to lecture on "Guidelines for Diagnosing and Treatment of Hepatitis-B and C in Pregnancy" here on Saturday at the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) House.
Dr Huma called for an integral approach to address the worrisome situation of surge in Hepatitis C patients in the country. She said, while informing about who becomes carrier easily, that children get exposed to virus within a year of their birth because at this age their immunisation system was not strong enough to produce adequate antibodies.
She said that adults had very low prevalence rate to suffer from chronic Hepatitis C and in case of suffering they were hoped to recover within 12 weeks.
Mentioning that there was provision for effective vaccination for hepatitis-B, but no active immunisation of hepatitis-C, she reiterated that sustained response rate of up to 80 percent can be achieved with proper management of Hepatitis-C.
She said that types of chronic hepatitis-B were wild and mutant in which wild type was common while type mutant was uncommon but treatment for both types was available in satisfactory form. "However, the picture is gloomy for Chronic Hepatitis B of delta infection as prevalence ratio of immunisation is almost about zero and carrier dies within a few years," she mentioned.
While discussing the transmission modes of the Hepatitis B and C virus, Dr Huma apprised that blood transfusion, sexual transmission, transplantation, dental procedures and application of non-sterilised knives and blades by barbers were main factors responsible for spread of the virus.
She also stressed the need to remove the misconceptions in the general public regarding hepatitis that it is a universally fatal disease and that no treatment is available, and that liver biopsy also leads to spread of disease or that the disease is transmitted by living together, eating together or using same towel.