Experts Call For Early Screening Of Hepatitis B,C To Avoid Chronic Liver Diseases

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Sep, 2019 ) :Health experts on Thursday stressed the need for increasing mass awareness about the risk factors, prevention and early screening of hepatitis B and C as millions of people worldwide including Pakistan were daily dying due to complications of viral hepatitis and other diseases of liver.

Talking to private news channel, Dr Syed Nadeem Hassan said the early screening and training of the beauticians and doctors would help curb the spread of the fatal disease among citizens.

He warned beauty treatments such as manicures, pedicures and haircuts are supposed to be all about pampering and relaxation, but they could leave you with some nail-biting health problems.

The risk of transmission of infectious disease, particularly hepatitis B and C, in personal care settings is significantly understudied , he added.

"Hepatitis is a transmissible disease that can be spread through blood," he explained.

He remarked most beauty parlors and hairdresser salons operate in an unhygienic way and use unsterilized tools with customers.

Dr further said that hospitals should also add sterilization machines to meet the basic healthcare requirements as hepatitis can be spread through contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injection drug use.

Hepatitis B and C are usually transmitted through exposure to infected blood, he added.

"Cuts are common during manicure and pedicure, and the same kit is used again," he said.

He said proper sterilization of tools could reduce the chances of the disease.

However, sterilisation is expensive and is therefore not used by salons and even some hospitals, he mentioned.

Specilist said due to rising trend of beauty salons large number of people in country has highest rate of Hepatitis B and C where according to an estimate over 7 million people are infected with deadly viral disease.

If a mass awareness and screening of Pakistani population for the viral hepatitis is not started immediately it can affect our population badly with this deadly diseases, he added.

He said our country where Hepatitis B and C infections were on the rise and added that major cause of infection is lack of awareness.

"We daily see patients with liver cirrhosis which is the last stage of the liver disease due to viral hepatitis, he mentioned".

It also leads to Hepatocellular Carcinoma or cancer of the liver, which is a serious illness and in most of the cases, it leads to death if liver transplant is not performed, Dr said.

The best solution to avoid these conditions is early screening and if the result is positive, start treatment," Dr Huma another Liver specialist said.

The most common hepatitis viruses are types A, B, and C while viral hepatitis types B and C can cause chronic hepatitis.

Dr said only 30 per cent of people infected with hepatitis C and eighty per cent living with hepatitis B are aware of their status and in raising awareness about diagnosis, print and electronic media along with social media campaigns can play a great role.