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An estimated 325 million people are living with hepatitis B or C and few are aware of their condition, with death tolls from the viruses rising, the UN said Friday.
The World Health Organization’s latest hepatitis report identifies the condition as a grave public health threat that needs an “urgent response.”
Hepatitis killed 1.34 million people in 2015, a toll roughly in-line with HIV and tuberculosis.
But in contrast to HIV and TB, hepatitis deaths are increasing, WHO said, recording a 22 per cent mortality rise from 2000 to 2014.
Hepatitis is often symptom free, but types B and C can trigger liver cirrhosis and cancer if untreated.
Lack of awareness among those infected is driving the virus’s spread.
For hepatitis B — which is spread through bodily fluids like blood and semen — only nine percent of those infected know their status.
And for hepatitis C, primarily spread through blood, just 20 per cent of those infected are aware of their condition.
Read more…http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/cases-of-hepatitis-b-and-c-hit-325-million-who-1.3378708