India Reeling Under Burden Of Hepatitis B & C: Both Newborns & Adults Should Be Vaccinated For Better Coverage

What are Hepatitis B & C?

Hepatitis B is known to cause acute infection with nausea, vomiting and yellowing of the eye and skin for several weeks. Liver failure happens in severe cases. But the challenge is the chronic, life-long liver disease that it causes, especially when children get it. The chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver called cirrhosis and increase the risk of liver cancer. There are medicines to slow the progress of the virus in chronic cases.

Many people with the hepatitis C virus don’t have symptoms or know they are infected. Those who develop symptoms two to 12 weeks after exposure report yellow skin or eyes, loss of appetite, nausea, stomach ache, fever, dark urine, light-coloured stool, joint pain and exhaustion.

Diagnostics & treatment

In India, the coverage of diagnosis and treatment for both Hepatitis B & C is very low. The report says that only 2.4 per cent of the Hepatitis B cases were diagnosed and 0 per cent received treatment. For Hepatitis C, the coverage of diagnostics and treatment was found to be better in India, with 28 per cent being diagnosed and 21 per cent receiving treatment.