Hepatitis- C; A deadly disease which is killing 6 per cent of our total population

A new local study has revealed the shocking findings of Hepatitis- C in the country which is killing about 6 percent of the total population and affecting 10 million Pakistanis every year.

To spread awareness among general public, a lecture was organised by the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD) and Department of Microbiology, University of Karachi where Dr. Panjwani and Prof. Dr. Aqeel Ahmed expressed in detail about the
growing disease that is killing millions of people across the world including Pakistan.

Later, Prof Dr Aqeel Ahmad, in particular said, “Over 10 million people are infected with Hepatitis-C Virus which is about six percent of the total population. Viral hepatitis has affecting about 400 million people, out of which one third cases are due to
Hepatitis-C Virus (HCV) alone”               

“This is a very, very high prevalence rate for any country,” said gastroenterologist and Pakistan Medical Research Council (PMRC) Executive Director Dr Huma Qureshi. “In my opinion the situation is already out of control and needs to be tackled very seriously.”
Most countries worldwide barely breach the one to 1.2% prevalence marks. Pakistan is still better off than Egypt and Italy, however, whose prevalence rates go into double digits this [unethical medical practices] is not just true for rural areas, even at major
hospitals, such as Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Civil Hospital, Karachi, the reuse of syringes and contact with contaminated blood remains a grave cause for concern.”

Regarding, prevention of this fatal virus, there are some significant pre-emptive ways that include growing consciousness of disease and blood screening prior to transfusion in any particular patient.    

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Posted by Umair Hassan on Nov 28 2011. Filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry