Grappling with ABC of hepatitis

August 3, 2011

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BY CATHERINE WATSON

01 Aug, 2011 12:00 AM

HEPATITIS is urging people with risk factors for the disease to tell

their doctors and arrange a blood test as soon as possible.

Hepatitis CEO Helen McNeill told the Weekly a veil of silence around

the disease was needlessly condemning many people to an early death from liver

failure and cancer.

In Monash, 113 people were diagnosed with hepatitis B last year and 55 with

hepatitis C. So far this year 79 have been diagnosed with hepatitis B or C, out

of a total of 1327 new diagnoses in .

But the number of Monash people unknowingly living with the disease is likely to

be much higher, Mrs McNeill said.

" In Australia we have around 100,000 people who don't even know they have either

hepatitis B or hepatitis C. "

Hepatitis C is most commonly contracted from sharing needles while injecting

drugs. It can also be contracted by " backyard " tattoos when needles are shared.

Mrs McNeill said the complicating factor was that it could be 15 or 20 years

before people developed symptoms of the disease. By that time their drug-taking

might be a distant and embarrassing memory.

" The silence is stopping people from knowing they are at risk and from getting

the information, care and support they need. "

People with any known risk factors to talk to their GP and arrange to have a

blood test as soon as possible. People who come from regions where hepatitis B

is endemic - including south-east Asia and the Pacific Islands - should also be

tested, she said.

There is no known cure for hepatitis B but it can be managed. Without treatment,

about 25per cent of people with hepatitis B will die from liver damage or liver

cancer.

There is a cure rate of between 50 and 80per cent for hepatitis C with early

treatment. More than 55,000 ns are living with chronic hepatitis C.

About 600 Australians a year die from complications related to hepatitis B and

C.

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