2024-07-27 08:27:13
This was revealed in a report published in the spring, which was accompanied by an apology from then UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The victims and their families are expected to receive monetary compensation of between £665,000 and £810,000 (€791,000 to €963,000).
The scandal has been called the biggest medical disaster in the history of England’s National Health Service (NHS), with the report highlighting the importation of blood products from abroad that used blood from high-risk donors such as prisoners and drug addicts.
“Hepatitis C is an infection transmitted through blood and other biological fluids, which could be contracted not only through transfusions of blood and its products, but also through other unsafe medical procedures, tattooing, pedicure procedures, sexual intercourse, intravenous drug use,” – explained Kaunas Clinics gastroenterologist, professor Limas Kupčinskas.
During the Soviet era and at the dawn of Lithuania’s independence, not only patients but also donors could become infected due to unsafe blood plasma collection procedures.
The course of hepatitis C is 80%. cases have no symptoms until serious complications develop – liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. Chronic hepatitis C is the most common reason for liver transplantation in the United States and Europe. The consequences of infection may appear late – after 25-30 years.
The slogan of World Hepatitis Day, which is celebrated this year on July 28, responds to these threats: “Hepatitis cannot wait.”
Professor: Lithuania chose a better strategy
“The most interesting thing is that most of the patients were infected by blood or plasma transfusion even before the discovery of the hepatitis C virus in 1989 and the introduction of the diagnostic test into clinical practice in 1992-1994, so the moral and legal validity of such large compensations is debatable,” commented L. Kupčinsk. “It’s true that with the advent of hepatitis C diagnostic tests, it was already known about previous unsafe blood transfusions, but health system managers did not organize screening of patients who might have been infected.”
The professor drew attention to the fact that Lithuania faced a similar security problem at that time. According to the research data, 7.9% of people in Lithuania were infected with the hepatitis C virus in 1991-1993. commercial blood donors and 13.9 percent. commercial blood plasma donors.
“Of course, once the infection was detected, the blood of these donors was not used, and currently blood transfusion is completely safe in Lithuania,” emphasized L. Kupčinskas.
In May 2022, the hepatitis C screening program started in the country, in which family doctors actively joined. If a person comes for a health check-up, along with the usual blood tests, the family doctor offers to be checked for hepatitis C. The patient can apply for the test himself.
More than 1.2 million Lithuanian residents were examined, and almost 7 thousand patients with chronic hepatitis C were diagnosed and referred for treatment to gastroenterologists and infectious disease specialists. “As the head of the Lithuanian hepatitis C screening and elimination public working group, I am proud that we have chosen a significantly more rational strategy for the fight against hepatitis C in Lithuania,” said L. Kupčinskas.
He calculated that for the amount that will be allocated in the UK for the compensation of only 40-50 persons infected with hepatitis, almost 70% have already been checked with the funds of the State Sickness Fund (VLK). of the country’s population born in 1945-1994. The last category was chosen according to the year when hepatitis C tests were introduced in Lithuania, which allowed to check the blood of donors.
“We can be happy that in independent Lithuania and being in the European Union, we have matured and are sometimes able to make more timely and rational decisions in the field of health care than some “old” democratic countries,” said L. Kupčinskas.
Medicines cure 99 percent. patients
Why 30 percent people haven’t been checked in almost 2 years? They probably don’t go to the doctors.
“In the Soviet era, it was an unreasonable fashion to transfuse babies with blood plasma, albumin, and other blood products for premature newborns or in the case of physiological jaundice in infants. Even they could be infected with hepatitis C, so those born in 1993-1994 were also at risk.
Those people are now 30 years old and the first signs of the disease may already appear,” explained L. Kupčinskas.
With the use of modern drugs, the treatment of hepatitis C infection lasts 8-12 weeks, with a recovery rate of 99%. patients.
Another good news – from July 1. a new generation medication against hepatitis C is included in the list of compensatory drugs. Thus, currently there are even 3 very effective drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C in the arsenal of doctors.
Medicines are very expensive – a monthly course of treatment costs the state 5-5.5 thousand. euros. Therefore, patients are requested to responsibly follow the doctor’s instructions and for anyone whose family doctor has detected hepatitis C antibodies in their blood, to immediately go to a gastroenterologist or infectious disease specialist for further examination and treatment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set an ambitious goal – by 2030. to eliminate the circulation of hepatitis C in society.
Hepatitis alphabet
There are 3 main viral hepatitises, denoted by the first letters of the alphabet.
“Hepatitis A is an acute disease that does not progress to a chronic disease, infection occurs through the oral, fecal route. In other words, it is a disease of dirty hands”, explained L. Kupčinskas.
Strict sanitary control standards are observed in Lithuania, so hepatitis A is rarely detected in our country these days, the virus is brought home by vacationers returning from warm countries. Those who like to eat raw oysters, crabs, and other seafood should discuss the risk of hepatitis A with their family doctor.
More severe cases of hepatitis A are treated in the hospital, there are no special drugs against the virus, the symptoms of the disease are dealt with.
Hepatitis B and C have in common that they are transmitted through body fluids. The risk of hepatitis B being sexually transmitted is particularly high.
Both viruses go into a chronic stage and can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer.
“In Lithuania, the main problem is the complications caused by hepatitis C. For example, 15-19 liver transplants are performed in Kaunas clinics per year, and 40% in these cases, a new organ is needed due to hepatitis C”, explained L. Kupčinskas. The risk of hepatitis B is significantly lower, because since 1998, the vaccination of babies with the vaccine against this disease has been started in Lithuania. Hepatitis C vaccines have not yet been developed.
There is also an extremely rare hepatitis D in Lithuania – an infection for which the hepatitis B virus is necessary.
2024-07-27 08:27:13