08 Sep 2017
Coming to grips with a ‘silent killer’
Viral hepatitis is a hidden epidemic with significant public health consequences. Most people with chronic hepatitis types B and C aren't even aware they have the diseases as they show no obvious symptoms or signs, yet they risk severe illness or liver damage. So how is the global health community targeting hepatitis, and how to grow awareness in a largely unsuspecting public?
"On a global basis, the vast majority of people living with chronic viral hepatitis have not been tested and they've got no idea. At least 80 percent of people living with hep C and more than 90 percent living with hepatitis B in the world today have never been tested and don't know they've got it." – A/Prof Ben Cowie
Director of the WHOCCVH and Infectious diseases expert and epidemiologist A/Prof Ben Cowie explains in the University of Melbourne’s science podcast Up Close, why viral hepatitis is fast becoming a hidden epidemic with significant public health consequences.