Health report calls for hepatitis awareness campaign
Hepatitis B and C remain serious threats to public health, but many healthcare providers fail to screen at-risk patients and don’t know how to treat those infected with the viral diseases, which can cause liver failure and cancer, according to a report released Monday by the National Academy of Sciences.
The long-awaited assessment calls for a campaign to educate the public, doctors and lawmakers about the diseases, an approach similar to HIV/AIDS outreach. Researchers found that even though chronic viral hepatitis infections are three to five times more frequent than HIV in the United States, many doctors and nurses do not understand the extent of the problem.
Most of the estimated 3 million to 5 million people with chronic hepatitis B or C don’t know they have the diseases. By the time they start to show symptoms, they may have developed scarring of the liver or liver cancer and can be close to death.
“The challenge we have with hepatitis B and C is similar to our HIV stories. . . . We really don’t know they are infected until they end up sick and in the hospital,” said Dr. Gail Bolan, chief of the sexually transmitted diseases control branch of the California Department of Public Health. “It’s been a silent epidemic.”
The 176-page report requested by federal health officials was released by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences. Although an estimated 1% to 2% of the U.S. population has chronic hepatitis B and C, researchers found that awareness of the diseases is low.
Each year, about 1,000 infants contract hepatitis B from their mothers during childbirth. Although preventive steps can significantly reduce the likelihood of chronic infection in babies, new infections have not declined in a decade.
“Although hepatitis B and C are preventable, the rates of infection have not declined over the past several years,” R. Palmer Beasley, the report chairman and an epidemiologist at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, said in a statement. “We have allowed gaps in screening, prevention and treatment to go unchecked.”
Hepatitis B is spread through blood or other bodily fluids. Hepatitis C is usually spread through blood contact.
