Every year on 28 July, World Hepatitis Day is an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness of the global scourge of viral hepatitis and to foster agreement on a global strategy for the health sector.
In this sense, the provincial government, through the Ministry of Health, has announced that the viral hepatitis testing and awareness campaign will continue until Friday, August 4, emphasizing scientific developments that make possible prevention and treatment tools. Although there are approximately 80,000 new cases of hepatitis B and C infection each year in the Americas, Argentina is a low prevalence country with less than 2% detection rate for hepatitis B and less than 2% for hepatitis C less than 1%.
In our city, today will be the last day of the ongoing free testing for hepatitis C and hepatitis B, which can be performed at the “Jaime Ferré” hospital from 7 am to 10 am without prior appointment or medical appointment. .
Regarding the event, epidemiologist Sandra Cappello said at a news conference last Tuesday “As every year, on World Hepatitis Day on July 28th, hospitals test for hepatitis B and C, and it is important to know our serological status, as they are recessive infections that exist for a long time without Symptoms appear and only at a very advanced stage. These are different viruses because hepatitis A usually presents with acute symptoms, is self-limiting, and spreads via fecal or oral route through food and contaminated water.
Regarding infection, the doctor said, “Hepatitis B is mainly transmitted through sex and blood, and hepatitis C is transmitted through blood and sometimes sexually. They are different and spread in different ways, but what they have in common is that they affect Liver. Similarly, hepatitis A may also have some fulminant symptoms. Therefore, our country included the hepatitis A vaccine in the compulsory vaccination program a few years ago. As for hepatitis B and C, it is possible to give pictures of liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma , for these viruses we only have a vaccine for hepatitis B and no vaccine for hepatitis C, but we have effective treatments that can cure the infection. Also, they are silent enemies because we don’t know if we can have them, they can damage our livers. We only realize it when the disease is very severe. That’s why we recommend that everyone over the age of 18 be tested for hepatitis B at least once in their life, depending on their habits and behavior and C”.
Regarding the test, Capello added, “The test is very fast, the result is confirmed after 10 minutes. It’s just a prick of the finger, and if the result is negative for hepatitis B, they can get vaccinated.”
As far as testing and vaccines are concerned, Luciana Díaz, head of vaccination at the local hospital, insists that “people over the age of 30 are not vaccinated against hepatitis B, and the program calls for 3 doses. If today you Got the first one, the second is next month and the third is 6 months. The vaccine is free and will prevent us from getting a lot of viruses. There are a lot of people responding and we explain the plan to them. Luckily , we’ve had a really good time. Positive day of the week”.
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Meanwhile, Health Promotion Undersecretary Sebastián Torres emphasized last week that “hepatitis B case reporting in Santa Fe has decreased over the past 10 years as we had 120 annual records in 2013 and 40 reported cases in 2022. cases, things that happen because of vaccinations”. Likewise, Torres emphasized that “since 2015, the number of patients has decreased due to the treatment guaranteeing a cure rate of more than 90 percent.” By 4 cases, hepatitis A is no longer a public health problem.” The official explained, “Hepatitis may be caused by a viral infection, which is why we work on awareness and prevention of the disease in different ways: one On the one hand, we carry out hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccination activities, and on the other hand, we carry out activities for early detection of hepatitis.” For hepatitis B and C, we take the initiative to carry out free and non-shift testing throughout the province.” “With many As with other diseases, hand washing and drinking water are preventive measures,” concludes Sebastian Torres.