Liver disease often progresses silently with many patients experiencing no symptoms until irreversible damage such as cirrhosis or liver cancer has developed, experts from the AllMS, Delhi warned on World Hepatitis Day, urging wider screening and early diagnosis to curb India's heavy burden of viral hepatitis.

India accounts for nearly 12 per cent of the global burden of viral hepatitis, with an estimated 40 million people living with chronic hepatitis B infection and another six to twelve million chronically infected with hepatitis C, making it one of the countries with the highest disease burden worldwide, they said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 10 countries, including India, account for nearly 66 per cent of the global burden of hepatitis B and C. Globally, about 254 million people are living with hepatitis B and 50 million with hepatitis C.

Speaking on the occasion of World Hepatitis Day, observed every year on July 28, AIIMS experts said the biggest challenge is that chronic viral hepatitis and other liver diseases frequently remain undiagnosed because they do not produce symptoms in their early stages.

"Liver disease is often called a silent disease because many patients remain completely asymptomatic until advanced liver damage has already occurred.

By the time jaundice, abdominal swelling or liver failure develops, treatment becomes far more difficult," Dr Pramod Garg, Head of Department of Gastroenterology at AIIMS, Delhi, said.

Inflammation of the liver, or hepatitis, may be caused by viruses, alcohol, drugs or autoimmune disorders, Dr Shalimar, Professor in the Department of Gastroenterology, said.

While hepatitis A and E usually cause acute illness and are transmitted through contaminated food and water, hepatitis B and C spread through infected blood, unsafe injections, unscreened blood transfusions, mother-to-child transmission and unsafe sexual practices, and can progress to chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Experts said hepatitis C can now be cured in more than 95 per cent of patients with a three-month course of antiviral medicines, while hepatitis B can be effectively controlled with long-term treatment. They stressed that early testing remains the key to preventing complications.

Source:Ndtv