Awareness about Hepatitis-B
Tuesday, 18 December 2007
SOME 10 million people in Bangladesh are considered to be the carriers of the Hepatitis-B virus. The number alone reveals the enormity and seriousness of the problem. Ten million people is a huge number. It could be the combined population of several countries of the world. The figure of such a vast number in the Bangladesh population carrying this virus points to its existing as well as potential health threat.
True that the symptoms of the disease may remain suppressed in many individuals for a length of time. But the symptoms usually appear at one time or the other within the life span of an individual with devastating effect. In many ways, it is no less in its health-ruining and life-shortening abilities than the dreaded AIDS virus. Hepatitis-B usually culminates in liver failure or liver cancer that leads to sure death.
While the Bangladesh population has been made considerably conscious about the grim prognosis of AIDS, people here are still generally unaware that Hepatitis-B is also a communicable and dangerous disease like AIDS which they can prevent from afflicting them with safe practices.
Hepatitis-B virus usually enters the human body from promiscuous sex relationship, from the transfusion of blood of a victim to a healthier person, even from consumption of infected foods. Therefore, from practising safe sex and taking care to eat fresh foods or warm foods to get the germs destroyed in them, can be made into habits to be reasonably defended from the disease. All blood transfusions at hospitals and medical centres must be made after screening for the presence of Hepatitis-B in the bloods.
Laws should be introduced and sternly enforced to safeguard against risky transfusions. Hepatitis-B vaccines are available and the same should be made use of extensively to immunise people specially the children. Mass media should frequently carry publicities about the safe practices against Hepatitis-B and the need for vaccination.
Particularly, people should be urged through such publicities to take tests to find out whether they are carriers of the virus as the symptoms do not appear readily in many cases. The value of this testing is that after knowing that they have it, the carriers would be treating it while also taking care not to spread it to others.
Considering that Hepatitis-B poses a serious threat to the health and vitality of people, a resource drain and a debilitating factor for the country's workforce and the economy, creating widespread awareness about it has become imperative.
Dr Nuruddin Kamal
Birdem,
Dhaka
True that the symptoms of the disease may remain suppressed in many individuals for a length of time. But the symptoms usually appear at one time or the other within the life span of an individual with devastating effect. In many ways, it is no less in its health-ruining and life-shortening abilities than the dreaded AIDS virus. Hepatitis-B usually culminates in liver failure or liver cancer that leads to sure death.
While the Bangladesh population has been made considerably conscious about the grim prognosis of AIDS, people here are still generally unaware that Hepatitis-B is also a communicable and dangerous disease like AIDS which they can prevent from afflicting them with safe practices.
Hepatitis-B virus usually enters the human body from promiscuous sex relationship, from the transfusion of blood of a victim to a healthier person, even from consumption of infected foods. Therefore, from practising safe sex and taking care to eat fresh foods or warm foods to get the germs destroyed in them, can be made into habits to be reasonably defended from the disease. All blood transfusions at hospitals and medical centres must be made after screening for the presence of Hepatitis-B in the bloods.
Laws should be introduced and sternly enforced to safeguard against risky transfusions. Hepatitis-B vaccines are available and the same should be made use of extensively to immunise people specially the children. Mass media should frequently carry publicities about the safe practices against Hepatitis-B and the need for vaccination.
Particularly, people should be urged through such publicities to take tests to find out whether they are carriers of the virus as the symptoms do not appear readily in many cases. The value of this testing is that after knowing that they have it, the carriers would be treating it while also taking care not to spread it to others.
Considering that Hepatitis-B poses a serious threat to the health and vitality of people, a resource drain and a debilitating factor for the country's workforce and the economy, creating widespread awareness about it has become imperative.
Dr Nuruddin Kamal
Birdem,
Dhaka