Beware of hepatitis

Here’s a shocking fact:  One person dies every 30 seconds from viral hepatitis in the Asia Pacific Region, a death threat that is three times higher than HIV/AIDS.         

This means the number of people dying from the disease in Asia Pacific has reached one million every year, up from 695,000 in 1990.

This revelation  comes from the Coalition to Eradicate Viral Hepatitis in Asia Pacific (CVHAP), Hepatitis Society of the Philippines (HSP),  and global pharmaceutical company MSD. These three health advocates are therefore calling for stronger and urgent action to fight the disease, their  call timed for the observation of World Health Day on July 28 with activities that  focus on disease education and screening for early detection and treatment of the disease.

Data released by the three advocates define viral hepatitis as referring to a group of diseases caused by infection from one of five viruses – hepatitis A, B, C, D and E. Hepatitis B and C contribute the largest overall disease burden of all forms of hepatitis, with 500 million people worldwide living with chronic hepatitis B or C.  There are 350 million people living with chronic hepatitis B alone and 74 percent of these people live in Asia Pacific. In the Philippines, it is estimated that one out of six Filipinos or 16.7 percent are infected with the deadly virus.

Those who don’t know much about the causes of hepatitis may benefit from the National Women’s Health Information Center’s report on the Internet. It defines hepatitis as a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar, meaning liver, and the suffix itis,  meaning inflammation.

 Hepatitis , according to the NWHIC may occur with limited or no symptoms but often leads to jaundice, anorexia (poor appetite) and malaise. Hepatitis is acute when it lasts less than six months, and chronic when it persists longer. A group of viruses known as the hepatitis cause most cases of hepatitis worldwide, but hepatitis can also be caused by toxic substances (notably alcohol, certain medications, some industrial organic solvents and plants), other infections and autoimune diseases.

Hepatitis A is spread  by eating  infected food and drinking water and  anal-oral contact during sex. Almost everyone who gets hepatitis A has a full recovery.

Hepatitis B is spread by contact with an infected person’s blood, semen, or other body fluid. The liver also swells, and serious infection can cause liver damage which may result in cancer.

 Most people with hepatitis C develop a chronic infection that may lead to a scarring of the liver, called cirrhosis. Blood banks test all donated blood for hepatitis C.

Hepatitis D may develop into a scarring of the liver, the virus spreads through contact with infected blood, dirty needles, and unprotected sex (not using a condom).

 Hepatitis E causes swelling of the liver, also spreads through oral-anal-contact, but has no long-term damage.

According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington’s Global Burden of Disease study for 2010,  globally, viral hepatitis kills 1.4 million people each year, a figure similar to the number of deaths caused by HIV/AIDS.

The situation is even starker when looking at Asia Pacific, where one million deaths occur from viral hepatitis each year, compared with 300,000 deaths caused by HIV/AIDS.

Government response to the situation has been unsatisfactory. According to Dr. Jose Soliano Jr., gastroenterologist and a member of CVHAP in the Philippines, says, “Despite the escalating death toll from viral hepatitis, governments have often been at a loss about how to tackle these diseases, lacking the technical expertise, resources and even evidence to justify the investments needed to confront viral hepatitis.”

 â€œWe now have the evidence that justifies the investment in the form of one million people dying needlessly every year. We also have a new framework from the World Health Organization, and as a member of CEVHAP, I urge our policymakers to form national strategies and ensure viral hepatitis receives the attention it needs.”

Currently, there is a vaccine for hepatitis B and new treatments for chronic hepatitis C that could save millions of lives, “but none of these matter if we fail to tackle viral hepatitis in a more comprehensive way. It would be good if all stakeholders, including government, media and the public, approach viral hepatitis in the same way that most have approached HIV/AIDS and TB.”

Educating the public is vital in the  early detection,  reduction,  prevention and treatment of  the infection.  Towards this end, CEVHAP, HSP and MSD are celebrating World Hepatitis Day on July 28 with screening , free clinic and consultations. HSP will hold its annual screening, free clinic and consultations as well as lay fora  at Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan on July 28. MSD has also partnered with several hospitals to conduct free hepatitis C screenings and lay fora on the following dates: July 24- Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu; July 26, 11 a.m., National Kidney and Transplant Institute; July 27, Davao Doctors Hospital, and  July 28, Cardinal Santos Memorial Center.

MSD, a global healthcare leader “ working to help the world be well,”  has asked the help of a non-government organization of clinical psychologists and formed a program called COPE with Hep C (Counseling, Processing and Empowering Patients with Hepatitis C). This NGO offers individual and group counselling “for hepatitis C patients and their families to address the current and underlying issues in patients’ situations and help them move  out of grief and into a frame of mind that embraces mutual aid and empowerment.”

Another NGO composed of patient groups is the Yellow Warriors Society of the Philippines, formed to raise awareness on viral hepatitis and strengthen the advocacy to minimize, if not eliminate, the stigma of having the infection.

 Contact numbers for the help groups are: COPE with Hep C,  0915-6617822;  Yellow Warriors of the Philippines, ywsp.president@gmail.com, and Hepatology Society of the Philippines, 9613014.

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Perry Casapao once served as administrator of the municipality of Calamba (now a city), Laguna. He and his wife Fe moved to California and lived there for many years. They came home recently and are peacefully settled in the Casapao compound in Pansol.

Perry could not help but be bothered by things going on in this country, which he professes to love, which is why he is back here for good. He emailed me his thoughts on the pork barrel issue, which I am reproducing, with his permission. Here it is:

“When I heard the news about the pork barrel scam allegedly perpetrated by our ‘honourable’ lawmakers, I remembered the movie ‘Network’ and the quote, ‘I am mad as hell and I can’t take it anymore.’

“The term ‘pork barrel’  gained currency when barrels of pork fat were distributed to soldiers during the US Civil War. It became a notorious term because of the perceived favoritism among those charged with the distribution. US pundits used the term when describing congressional funds earmarked for distribution to constituencies’ projects that were not in the general budget. Some lawmakers used pork barrel funds for their favorite constituencies’ personal pet projects, like the Big Den in Boston or the bridge to nowhere in Alaska. At least, there was a project!

“The members of the Philippine Congress have tweaked the science of pork barrel spending into an admirable art, disbursing money on projects that exist only on paper! I am sure that if Manuel L. Quezon, the august body’s first Senate president were alive today he would have uttered a few choice words, “Hijo de p . . .!’

 â€œLet us end the drought of justice that has lingered all these years in this dear country of ours. While we acknowledge a new era of transparency in government and applaud PNoy’s sincerity in pushing through with much-needed reforms, there is an ingrained climate of apathy towards change among the  general populace,  so all the revelations scandalously publicized in the media might be for naught.

 â€œA few good men wanted answers, and we got them. The question is, what do we do with the truth? Are we going to pursue the persecution of those involved to the bitter end, come hell or high water? Or will this nation, thrilled to the bone with famous personalities, voting them into office time and again , just shrug and move on? Perhaps then, it is only apt to mention a movie quote or two: ‘You (we) can’t handle the truth.’ Or, ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t  give a damn.’”

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Email:dominitorrevillas@gmail.com