28th July: World Hepatitis Day

World Hepatitis Day is celebrated every year on 28 July to raise awareness of viral hepatitis, which inflames the liver and causes severe liver disease and liver cancer.

The world is currently suffering a new outbreak of acute childhood hepatitis of unknown causes. WHO, in colaboration with scientists and policy makers in affected countries, is working to understand the origin of these infections, which are apparently not caused by any of the five known types of viruses: A, B, C, D and E.

Method to prevent hepatitis

The first thing is not to perfom any invasive process of the body, such as tattooing your eyebrowns or injecting Botox in an unrealiable place that does not have the most elementary rules of higiene, or have permits.

The second is to get vaccines against the most common types of viruses that are usually type A, B, and C (the first two are applied to children during the first months of life).

And the third thing is to continually use protection when having sex.

Although usually viral hepatitis can rarely lead to death or emergency hospitalizations. It is important to keep track of the state of our body by performing a general blood test every 6 months or year.

Cases worldwide and in Mexico

According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), hepatitis A virus occurs sporadically and in global epidemics, however, HAV represents a low mortality from viral hepatitis. In 2016, this disease caused approximately 7,134 deaths worldwide, representing 0.5% of the mortality.

Types B and C are the most common and cause 1.1 million deaths and 3 million new infections each year. They are the second most lethal infectious desease after tuberculosis and there are 9 times more people infected with hepatitis B and C viruses than with the Human Immunodeficiency Vurus (HIV).

In Mexico, according to dat from the Ministery of Health, 3,978 cases of hepatitis A were registred during 2020, with a national incidence rate of 3.11 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Among the satates with the highest incidence rates were Zacatecas (10.98), Baja California Sur (9.94) and Oaxaca (8.06)

This world Day, establised by the WHO in 2010, seeks to raise awareness among the population about the risks of this disease and make a global call to generate a comprensive response in the fight against this condition.