KARACHI, Jan 22: Hepatitis B and C are global health problems with worldwide 350 million people being carriers of Hepatitis B and at a reported rate of five per cent, the number of Hepatitis B carriers in Pakistan is estimated at around seven million.

This was stated by Prof Wasim Jafri, acting chairman of the Department of Medicine, the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), at a symposium in connection with the Hepatitis Awareness Day of the hospital on Tuesday.

He stressed the importance of vaccination against Hepatitis B .

“In Pakistan, the carrier rate is reported at five per cent, which means that out of a population of 140 million, there are at least seven million carriers,” Prof Jafri said.

This, he said, produced an enormous burden not only on the government but also on the patients. Millions of rupees are spent on its treatment, which stands unsatisfactory with the currently available treatment options.

Keeping this scenario in mind, it is far better to prevent Hepatitis B through timely vaccination, he emphasised.

He said Hepatitis B could almost completely be prevented by providing vaccination against the infection very early in life, preferably in the first week after birth.

“There is also mother-to-infant transmission of Hepatitis B which occurs at the time of birth or just after,” Dr Jafri explained.

“The greatest problem with Hepatitis B is when infection is acquired very early in life, 95 per cent infants become chronic carriers of Hepatitis B. If this infection is acquired in the first year of life, it results in chronic liver disease and hepatocellular cancer in adolescents.”

However, if the infection is acquired in adult life, less than 10 per cent of patients become carriers. “Hence, it is recommended that all newborns are vaccinated against Hepatitis B.”

“In adults, the vaccine should be offered to people at high risks, such as health-care workers, phlebotomists, dentists, paramedics and nurses.”

He added that the treatment of Hepatitis B available in Pakistan was at par with those in rest of the world.

Dr Mohammad Khurshid, Medical Director of the AKUH, spoke on the importance of Hepatitis B vaccination and urged for awareness of Hepatitis B at all levels, especially among the public so that the current carrier rate of Hepatitis B in Pakistan is reduced. Dr Saeed Hamid spoke on the risk of Hepatitis C posed to health-care professionals.

He said that its prevention demanded safe blood transfusion, use of disposable needles and syringes, as well as safe disposal of hospital waste, sterilising surgical and dental equipment, all of which needed public awareness at all levels.

Prof Gaffar Billoo, Chairman of the Paediatrics, spoke on Hepatitis B vaccination in children.—APP