KOTA KINABALU: The number of chronic hepatitis cases in Sabah is expected to increase this year, said State Health Director Dr Christina Rundi.

She said the Health Department is expecting more than 1,000 cases of chronic hepatitis by the end of this year.

“Last year, the number of chronic hepatitis cases recorded by the department were 934 cases and as of July this year, we have already recorded 650 cases,” she said at the launch of the Hepatitis Day 2013 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1 near here yesterday.

Dr Christina said the department was concerned about this development and there was a need to create more awareness and programme for the public on the disease.

“No district (in Sabah) is safe from the disease,” she warned.

In her speech, the director said that July 28 was recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as World Hepatitis Day.

“The objective of the celebration is to raise the awareness of the people on hepatitis and steps towards its prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The celebration is implemented at all hospitals in Malaysia to ensure that information on hepatitis is distributed to the masses,” she said.

She added that the hospitals involved would conduct awareness activities and shall emphasise on the dangers of the disease to the public.

“WHO views the hepatitis B and hepatitis C gravely and has selected them as a global issue that needs to be addressed seriously. Moreover, there have been increases in hepatitis infections annually worldwide, including Malaysia,” she said.

“The World Hepatitis Day celebration is a global initiative and various activities such as awareness campaigns and implementation of hepatitis eradication activities are held,” she said.

Dr Christina said hepatitis was caused by a virus that causes liver inflammation.

“There are five viruses that cause hepatitis which are A, B, C, D and E, but hepatitis B and C are the most dangerous because they lead to chronic and fatal illnesses such as cirrhosis and liver cancer,” she said.

She said the theme for the celebration this year, “This is Hepatitis, know it. Confront it” was in line with the objective of the celebration.

“If more people knew about hepatitis, prevention and control efforts can be done as thousands of death due to the disease are occurring annually,” she said.

“Those unaware of the disease have high risk of being infected.

Hepatitis infection is a burden to the Health Ministry because the cost of treatment for liver cancer and failure is very high per patient. Hence, control measure to stop the spread of the disease through the dissemination of knowledge on this disease is crucial,” she said.

The director also reminded that hepatitis is a silent killer and people with the disease usually do not know they have it until they are tested for it.

source:mjnnews