2024-07-29 22:28:27
Today is World Hepatitis Day. The day is observed on 28th July every year to raise awareness about hepatitis. The day is the birthday of Nobel laureate scientist Baruch Samuel Bloomberg. He was the first to discover the hepatitis B virus.
The ‘World Hepatitis Alliance’ took the initiative to celebrate Hepatitis Day on July 28, 2008 to make the world aware. In 2011, the World Health Organization recognized World Hepatitis Day. Since then, the day is celebrated on July 28 every year. The day is being celebrated in Bangladesh like other countries of the world. This year’s theme of the day is ‘Now is the time to take action’.
According to the World Health Organization, about 1 crore people are infected with hepatitis ‘B’ and ‘C’ virus in Bangladesh. More than 20,000 people die of hepatitis every year in the country. The biggest cause of concern about hepatitis is that 9 out of 10 people infected with hepatitis ‘B’ and ‘C’ viruses worldwide do not know they have the virus.
According to a study by the Liver Foundation of Bangladesh Hepatology Society, 76 percent of the patients who come to the hospital for treatment with jaundice are infected with hepatitis virus.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave a message on the occasion of Hepatitis Day.
He said, ‘The goal of eliminating hepatitis worldwide by 2030 is realistic and achievable by all of us. Get tested for hepatitis, get vaccinated and get treatment if needed.’
Hepatitis is actually an infection of the liver. It is a virus that sits silently in the human body. It slowly becomes horrible. He later died of liver cirrhosis and cancer.
Unsafe blood (professional donors), syringes, physical intercourse, drug addicts, drug use through same syringe, unsafe acupuncture, can spread from mother to newborn. Besides, hepatitis can spread through toothbrushes and shaving materials.
Hepatitis B is of two types, acute and chronic. Acute hepatitis usually occurs in adults. If the virus enters their body in any way, fever, jaundice, loss of appetite, white stool, nausea, yellow urine – all these symptoms appear in the patient’s body. Symptoms may appear 6 weeks to 6 months after the virus enters the body. Symptoms are more severe in the first 1 to 3 months of infection. And within 6 months, the virus is usually eliminated. After that, antibodies are produced in the body.