WHEN SILENCE HURTS

HEPATITIS B AND C ARE KNOWN AS SILENT AILMENTS WITH NO EARLY SYMPTOMS, BUT TIMELY TESTS CAN PREVENT LONG-TERM DAMAGE.

HEPATITIS, IN VARIANTS ranging from A to E, is inflammation of the liver, often the result of a viral infection. However, Hepatitis D is very rare in India. Hepatitis A and E are essentially water-borne diseases and the former mostly affects children or those aged below 20. If people at a later age get infected, it could be quite severe and may even lead to acute liver failure in rare cases (less than 1 per cent).

Both Hepatitis A and E have many common symptoms such as fever, appetite loss, vomiting and jaundice wherein the skin, whites of the eyes and mucous membranes turn yellow due to a high level of yellow-orange bile pigment called bilirubin. Hepatitis A is generally self-correcting (the body heals on its own) with no long-term damage, and when people recover, they become immune to Hepatitis A for the rest of their lives. There is also a vaccine for Hepatitis A but none for Hepatitis E. So, paying attention to water and food quality is essential now.

Hepatitis B can be contracted at birth while Hepatitis C usually spreads through blood transfusion. Left untreated for an extended period, it could eventually damage the liver (cirrhosis) and lead to loss of appetite, fatigue, lethargy, oedema of the feet and high coloured urine (extremely yellow urine).

“This is a growing problem, partly because increased awareness has made more people seek early detection,” says Dr Satish Kulkarni, a Mumbai-based gastroenterologist, hepatologist and endoscopist. He sees around 100 patients a day with half of them suffering from liver diseases, and this number has doubled over the past five years. But these also include non-viral causes of liver disease. Another growing problem is the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease resulting from a higher prevalence of diabetes.

According to Dr Kulkarni, one way of dealing with hepatitis, especially Hepatitis B and C, is to get tested at the earliest. Timely detection will help treat the symptoms and further damage can be checked. Based on the data from various studies, it is estimated that 8-10 per cent of the Indian population is infected with Hepatitis B and 1 per cent with Hepatitis C although most of them may not be aware of it. One needs to undergo a simple blood test that costs less than ` 1,000 for detecting both (Hepatitis B and C) and around ` 1,100 each for Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E. It will cost even less in a government hospital. For Hepatitis A and B, there are vaccines available and one should go for it, says Dr Kulkarni. In case one has Hepatitis B, treatment will help control the disease, and future problems can be prevented. Hepatitis C is curable and several drugs are now available in the market.