Hepatitis E on the rise in Punjab

LAHORE : Some 13 million people in Pakistan have hepatitis and nine million of them have hepatitis C which is 5 per cent of the population while 4.5 million have hepatitis B which makes 2.5 per cent of the population. But it’s hepatitis E that is widespread in Punjab, particularly in Lahore with very high mortality rate among pregnant women.

This was learnt from gastroenterologist and haematologist at Mayo Hospital, Dr Adeel Qamar. The Hepatitis Prevention and Treatment Centre at Mayo Hospital receives 80 patients a day on average and is working on a daily basis, providing facility of all the lab tests and treatment free of cost. Today is World Hepatitis Day. A walk was organised at the hospital on Saturday to create awareness about hepatitis among the masses.

Reasons cited for hepatitis A and E are orofecal transmission, poor sanitation and travel to endemic areas.

Hepatitis B and C are caused by blood transfusions, needle-stick injuries, accidents/abrasions and mother to baby transmission.

Vaccine availability in Pakistan is currently only of hepatitis A and B.

Hepatitis E vaccine has been launched worldwide and it will be available in Pakistan soon. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), 400 million population is infected with hepatitis B and 180 million population is infected with hepatitis C.

In Egypt, hepatitis C prevalence is around 13 per cent while Mangolia has the highest hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence followed by Uzbekistan and Pakistan. The walk in Mayo Hospital, Lahore, was led by King Edward Medical University Vice-Chancellor Prof Khalid Masud Gondal, Mayo Hospital CEO Prof Dr Asad Aslam Khan, KEMU Registrar and Faculty of Medicine Department Chairman Prof Dr Irshad Hussain Qureshi and Mayo Hospital Chief Operating Officer Dr Tahir Khalil.