Dear Friends Today Nip the evil in the bud.
Screening for HBV and HCV
Chronic hepatitis B and C continue to be endemic in our region affecting millions.
We must actively screen infected people and treat them so that its complications like cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma are averted.
Why is screening important.?
Having HBV or HCV is no more a taboo, as affordable treatment options are now available.
The positive person can learn proper precautions and transmission can easily be halted.
The patient can be followed up, to prevent complications like liver cirrhosis & liver cancer.
The same person if not screened now can present with cirrhosis and in that setting doctors do not offer much to the patient .Thus screening is beneficial.
The liver transplant remains a distant dream so nip the evil in the bud IDENTIFY THE PATIENT & TREAT
Few suggestions:
1.All students must be screened before admission to a school / college for HBV and HCV.
Hepatitis B vaccine should be given at the entry-level to all students.
2. Pre marital screening of HBV and HCV can be started. Infected persons can be easily treated and they can happily marry there after.
In Fact we must add drug screen to pre marital screening as well to discourage drug abuse which is so rampant now.
The best model of pre marital screening is provided by Saudi Arabia .
Before marriage boys and girls need to have clearance from ministry of health. There is long list of disorders which they screen including viral hepatitis , drug abuse etc
This way they have curbed so many genetic disorders and identified HBV & HCV patients and treated them well.
Another side of the coin is that by creating such centers at all places we can increase job opportunities for our youth.
3.Pregnant ladies must be screened for HBV and HCV. They should be vaccinated in 2nd trimester. If HBV is positive they can be treated and risk of transmission to newborn can be stopped.
4. Our dental surgeons need to be careful and take extra precautions while sterilization of their equipment
5. Our blood banks and Dialysis centers should take stringent precautions so that seroconversion of HBV & HCV is prevented .
6.Our Barber brothers must use disposable shaving kits without fail.
7.Screening should be made compulsory before employment whether in Government or private.
8. Avoid tattooing , not really needed , it is a source of infection of HBV,HCV
9. Awareness regarding HBV and HCV should increase in the society only then we can curb its disastrous effects .
To conclude mass screening of HBV and HCV can go a long way to curb these diseases. Vaccinate your self for HBV
Treat HBV and HCV and stop Liver cancers. These are no more incurable
Reference:
Blum HE. History and Global Burden of Viral Hepatitis. Dig Dis. 2016;34(4):293-302. doi: 10.1159/000444466. Epub 2016 May 11. PMID: 27170381.
