Hepatitis-C Infection: Are we really committed to eliminate? Could it become the second Polio for Pakistan?

Kamani, Lubna; Ahmad, Baseer Sultan; Kalwar, Hamid Ali

doi:10.12669/pjms.36.7.2804

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…In China, the rate of late diagnosis for HIV was between 35.5 and 42.1% from 2010 to 2014 ( 32 ). Among hepatitis C patients, late diagnosis was common because 50–80% of them were unaware of their illness ( 33 ). In a study conducted in South China, delayed diagnosis occurred in about 78% of patients with syphilis ( 34 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Epidemic of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Under the Influence of COVID-19 in China

Yan

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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Background: Prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are major public health priorities in China, but are influenced by the COVID-19 epidemic. In this study, we aimed to quantitatively explore the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic and its control measures on five major STD epidemics in China.Methods: A monthly number of newly reported cases of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, gonorrhea, and syphilis from January 2010 to December 2020 were extracted to establish autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models. Each month's absolute percentage error (APE) between the actual value and model-predicted value of each STD in 2020 was calculated to evaluate the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic on the STDs. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to explore the confirmed COVID-19 case numbers and the COVID-19 control measures' correlations with the case numbers and the APEs of five STDs in 2020.Results: The actual number of five STDs in China was more than 50% lower than the predicted number in the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic, especially in February. Among them, the actual number of cases of hepatitis C, gonorrhea, and syphilis in February 2020 was more than 100% lower than the predicted number (APE was −102.3, −109.0, and −100.4%, respectively). After the sharply declines of STDs' reported cases in early 2020, the case numbers recovered quickly after March. The epidemic of STDs was negatively associated with the COVID-19 epidemic and its control measures, especially for restrictions on gathering size, close public transport, and stay-at-home requirements (p < 0.05).Conclusion: COVID-19 had a significant but temporary influence on the STD epidemic in China. The effective control of COVID-19 is vital for STD prevention. STD services need to be improved to prevent STDs from becoming a secluded corner in the shadow of COVID-19.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Epidemic of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Under the Influence of COVID-19 in China

Yan

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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“…2,3 Around 5 to 20 % of the chronically infected patients with HCV develop cirrhosis over a period of twenty to thirty years. 4 Large majority of patients with HCV are asymptomatic and not aware that they have the disease. 5 According to a survey, nine out of ten men, women and children are unaware that they have viral hepatitis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors decreasing compliance with treatment of HCV- Logistical, financial or lack of awareness of the disease.

Ali¹,

Haq²,

Choudhry³

et al. 2023

TPMJ

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Objective: To identify the fears and concerns regarding HCV amongst people presenting to a free screening camp and to identify the barriers preventing patients from linkage to care (seeking medical care for HCV). Study Design: Cross Sectional study. Setting: Gajrakh District, Gujranwala. Period: 15th February to 14th March 2019. Material & Methods: Questionnaire was filled by all the participants attending free screening and treatment camp. Questionnaire explored socio-demographic features, financial status, knowledge regarding awareness of disease e.g. risk factors for transmission of disease, possible complications of disease, fears regarding diagnosis &treatment of HCV and possible concerns of female population. Results: This study included 100 participants, 58% were females and 42% were males with a mean age of 46.23±12.36. Fifty seven percent of the participants were laborer, 15 were salary based, 6 were shopkeepers and 7 were housewives. Majority of participants have a sound knowledge about transmission of HCV i.e 95% said yes to the question about spread via ear/nose piercing by unsterilized needles, however, 49% and 61% think that hugging the patient and eating and drinking with patient also caused viral spread respectively. Most important factors contributing to inability to start treatment were inability to bear cost, missing of daily wages, lack of transport, fear of side effects and fear of being outcast in 75, 66, 41, 26 and 25% respectively. Conclusion: Socioeconomic factors like costly treatment, missing of daily wages, lack of transport, fear of side effects and being outcast are real hindrance in getting HCV treatment.

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“…2,3 Chronic HCV infection leads to cirrhosis to 5 -25% of patients over a period of two to three decades. 4 Poorer quality of life has been observed in patients with advanced cirrhosis especially in terms of physical and functional well-being. 5 There is a marked reduction in all-cause and liver related mortality, development of hepatocellular carcinoma and need for liver transplantation once hepatitis C is eradicated successfully.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Successful Eradication of Hepatitis-C Virus with Sofosbuvir based Antiviral treatment results in improvement in quality of life in cirrhotic patients

Ali¹,

Raja

Choudhry³

et al. 2022

Pak J Med Sci

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Objectives: To document improvement in quality of life in patients with Hepatitis-C related cirrhosis after successful eradication of the virus. Methods: In this observational cohort study conducted at Fatima Memorial Hospital from September 2015 to July 2017, patients with HCV were assessed for improvement in quality of life by using FACIT-F questionnaire. We compared the Quality of life (QOL) score before the start of treatment with DAAs and after achieving SVR12 in various aspects of quality of life including physical, emotional, functional and social well-being. Results: A total of 71 patients, 52 (73%) were CTP class A, 18 (25%) in B and one (1.4%) in C. The mean score of QOL before AVT was 23.93±7.04 and after achieving SVR it was 36.83±6.36 (P-value <0.001). In the subcategories, score of functional wellbeing, physical well-being and social wellbeing had significantly improved except emotional wellbeing scores. All scores improved across the spectrum of patients in the CTP class A and B. There was only one patient in the CTP-C class. Conclusion: Chronic HCV infection complicated by cirrhosis causes a significant decline in quality of life. There was a marked improvement in the functional, social and physical health of the patients after eradication of Hepatitis-C with anti-viral therapy except emotional health of the individuals. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.4.4537 How to cite this:Ali B, Raja IH, Choudhry A, Nawaz AA. Successful Eradication of Hepatitis-C Virus with Sofosbuvir based Antiviral treatment results in improvement in quality of life in cirrhotic patients. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(4):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.4.4537 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Hepatitis-C Infection: Are we really committed to eliminate? Could it become the second Polio for Pakistan?

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

The Epidemic of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Under the Influence of COVID-19 in China

The Epidemic of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Under the Influence of COVID-19 in China

Factors decreasing compliance with treatment of HCV- Logistical, financial or lack of awareness of the disease.

Successful Eradication of Hepatitis-C Virus with Sofosbuvir based Antiviral treatment results in improvement in quality of life in cirrhotic patients

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