Hepatitis has been identified as the major cause of about one point five million deaths annually.
According to a World Health Organization’s official record quoted by a member of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Dr Ernest Ifebi,
the viral infectious disease, affects hundreds of millions of people
worldwide causing acute and chronic liver diseases.
Dr Ifebi noted that the disease places a heavy burden on the health care system because of the costs of treatment of liver failure and chronic liver disease.
He added that in many countries, viral hepatitis is the leading cause
of liver transplants, while in communities where food and situation
services are poor, hepatitis A and E tend to be more common.
According to the medical expert, new hepatitis B and C infectious are
seen more often in recipients of organs, blood and tissue along with
persons working or receiving care in health settings and vulnerable
groups.
On the mode of spread, Dr Ifebi noted that hepatitis A and E are acute
viral infections typically transmitted through food or water contaminated by faecal matter, while hepatitis B is spread through exposure to infected blood through sexual contact with an infected person, or during childbirth.
He further noted that hepatitis C is mainly transmitted through contact with the blood of an infected person in modes such as sharing of needles, sex or childbirth, while hepatitis D is also common among injection drug users.
According to him, some of the symptoms of the disease include jaundice extreme fatigue, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever and dark
coloured urine.
As part of preventive measures against the disease Dr Ifebi called for tests, vaccination of children which can protect them from hepatitis B
infection for life, demanding safe injection and seeking treatment.

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