Chinese health experts are calling for prompt action to prevent
spread of infectious hepatitis C, which has similar transmission
channels as HIV/AIDS yet is less understood in China when compared
to other communicable illnesses such as hepatitis A and B.
The Chinese Medical Society, with help of Swiss-based Roche
Pharmaceutical Ltd, is working on a national plan for hepatitis C
prevention and control in China. The plan, due out at the end of
the year, will pass fundamental information along to the general
public and standardize practices in Chinese medical facilities.
According to Si Chongwen, an expert with the infectious diseases
department of Beijing No.1 Hospital affiliated to Beijing Medical
University, hepatitis C can be transmitted through blood
transfusion, mother-to-baby, intravenous drug use and sexual
contact.
The expert quoted information from the National Center for
Diseases Control that more than 60 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in
China are carrying hepatitis C virus.
According to a report from the World Health Organization, since
hepatitis C was first discovered in 1989, some 170 million people
worldwide, or 3.1 percent of the world's total population have been
infected. In China, the figure stands at 37 million.
The bad part of the disease is that, unlike hepatitis A and B,
which have obvious symptoms such as high fever in their initial
stages, people with hepatitis C usually only feel tired and have
yellow faces or jaundice, therefore many patients ignore it.
(China Daily October 13, 2003)