Local Life - Wigan - July 2018

48
Health & Fitness
Eliminating hepatitis
together
By Niamh Ollerton
According to the British Liver
Trust, in the UK alone there are
over 700,000 people affected with viral
hepatitis. Viral hepatitis is inflammation of
the liver caused by a virus – there are several
different viruses, named the hepatitis A, B,
C, D, and E viruses.
All of these viruses cause acute, or short-term,
viral hepatitis. The common ones are hepatitis
A, B and C. Most people recover from hepatitis
A with no lasting liver damage, but the hepatitis
B, C, and D viruses can cause chronic hepatitis,
in which the infection is prolonged, sometimes
lifelong; can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure, and liver
cancer.
However, viral hepatitis isn’t found in just one
location or among one group of people; it’s a
global epidemic that can affect millions of people
without them knowing. Statistics from the World
Hepatitis Day website states 90% of people living
with hepatitis B and 80% living with hepatitis C are
not aware of their status, which can result in people
developing fatal liver disease at some point in their lives,
and unknowingly transmitting the infection to others.
Viral hepatitis is one of the leading causes of death globally, accounting
for 1.34 million deaths per year – that’s as many as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or
malaria. Together, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C cause 80% of liver cancer cases in
the world, causing two in every three liver cancer deaths.
To raise awareness for the disease, World Hepatitis Day is held annually on 28 July
which brings the world together under a single theme to raise awareness of the global