HYDERABAD, June 3: There is no data about the number of hepatitis-B carriers in Pakistan but it has been suggested by community based studies that one in every ten persons is a carrier of the virus.

This was said by Dr Sadik Memon, assistant professor, Isra University Hospital, in a statement issued here the other day.

He added that an estimated 60 per cent of the patients of liver cancer in Pakistan was the virus carrier.

Hepatitis-B virus was one of the oldest enemy of mankind and around 350 million people in the world were chronically infected with the virus and 75 per cent of them belonged to Asia, he said.

Dr Memon said that hepatitis-B virus carriers were at increased risk of developing complications.

He said that hepatitis-B virus was transmitted by contaminated blood, syringes, sexual relations as well as person- to-person contact and open cuts and sores. He said that virus infection was seen in 90 per cent newborn babies of infected mothers.

Dr Memon said that patients with chronic hepatitis-B virus infection should be counselled on lifestyle modification and prevention of transmission.

There were no specific dietary restrictions, shown to have any effect on progression of chronic hepatitis-B, he said.

SPSC: The Sindh Public Service Commission has announced the names of eligible candidates for the post of ASIs of police (men and women), Sukkur Range.