The
number of Hepatitis C patients in Vietnam is increasing, and around half a
million people are estimated to develop cirrhosis and liver cancer this year,
experts said at a recent seminar.
Figures at the seminar in Ho Chi Minh City
showed that nearly 4.5 million people have the blood-to-blood infectious
disease in Vietnam, or 5 percent of the country’s population, compared to 2
percent in 2004, news website VnEpress said Wednesday.
The figures also indicated a four-fold
increase in the number of cirrhosis patients due to HCV in Vietnam in the past
decade.
There’s no vaccine to protect against
contracting the Hepatitis C virus.
But Pham Hoang Phiet, chairman of the city
Liver and Gall Association, said the disease has gotten worse also because
people are ignorant about the harms, and thus they do not take blood tests to
determine if they can receive early treatment.
Some patients even failed to follow the entire
treatment, Phiet said.
Dr. Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, director of HCMC
Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said that most Hepatitis patients went to the
hospital late, and they had few ideas about how to prevent the disease.
The hospital received around 2,400 arrivals
for chronic Hepatitis C exams and treatment every month, and 90 were
hospitalized with severe cirrhosis.
Chau said most patients only knew that they
had liver diseases when their condition became critical. Many spent all their
money but were unable to save their lives, he said.
A seminar on Hepatitis C diagnosis, treatment
and prevention will be held at the hospital on Saturday.
Statistics estimated around 200 million people
are infected with Hepatitis worldwide, or 3 percent of the population. There
are around 3 million to 4 million new patients every year.
Thanh Nien News
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