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A very high percentage (9 out of 10 patients) is not diagnosed. Can we cure hepatitis B? Therapeutic strategies are proving their worth. The standard of care is based on taking antivirals directly over the long term, “several decades to get a cure”. And the new antiviral molecules are also effective with shorter processing times.
To date, there is a vaccine against this disease. But its prescription is not generalized. What if it is? With “effective and safe immunization, and if it were universally practiced at birth, it would take almost 90 years to get HBV eliminated”, attest Nathalie Ganne-Carrié and Marc Bourlière, general secretary and president of the French Association for the liver study (AFEF) in the latest weekly epidemiological bulletin. “During this period, 80 million people will die from hepatocellular carcinoma. “
The eradication of hepatitis B still seems distant. Today, prevention is the priority to better protect populations, particularly in the areas of “blood safety and prevention of maternal-fetal transmission of HBV”.
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is caused by a virus called HCV. It affects 71 million patients around the world. It induces an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis. In Europe, this disease is the second leading cause of liver transplantation after diseases related to excessive alcohol consumption.
Management is now based on direct acting antivirals (DAA). In 8-12 weeks, this drug allows to “cure, without side effects, more than 99.8% of patients”. These spectacular therapeutic advances make it possible to predict the elimination of the C virus by 2030 proposed by the WHO ”, positively the authors of the BEH. But this progress will not be made without the trio of prevention, screening and treatment. In fact, measures were taken to promote “access to treatment for all patients with chronic hepatitis C in 2017 and the prescription of AAD was extended to all doctors in 2019”. But in France, 90,000 infected patients have not yet been diagnosed. Again, the most common modes of infection are the use of injectable drugs.
Towards the organized screening?
The BEH authors support the establishment of an organized screening to better diagnose cases of hepatitis in France. Another defense strategy is the establishment of a “national hepatitis management program coordinated by the Ministry of Health with funding, adequate human resources and measurable objectives to achieve, in the shortest possible time, the public health objectives defined by the WHO. “.
Focus on the benefits of meditation
Source: Destination Santé
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