Almost 1,500 Moldovans diagnosed with hepatites in 2020

Chisinau, 28 July /MOLDPRES/ - As many as 1,422 cases of hepatitis were recorded in Moldova in 2020, by almost 50 per cent less against 2019, when 2,957 people were diagnosed. The National Public Health Agency (ANSP) made public data to this effect, in the context of marking the World Hepatitis Day.  
According to ANSP, 917 (64.5 per cent) out of all cases of viral hepatitis registered are the B, C and D hepatitis and 483 (34 per cent) – cases of A hepatitis.   
A new scheme of treatment of patients sick with chronic hepatitis or viral hepatic cirrhosis B, C and D was introduced in Moldova in 2016. Following its enforcement, over 17,000 Moldovans were treated of hepatitis.
The health sector authorities say that the new treatment has essentially diminished also the costs for the anti-viral preparations used and significantly improved the results of the treatment, with an efficiency of about 97 per cent of patients treated. Thus, the treatment’s duration was essentially shortened and the efficiency was enhanced. At the same time, to prevent the B viral hepatitis, the residents are supplied with vaccines for free, according to the national plan of immunizations for 2016-2021.        
The World Hepatitis Day is annually marked on 28 July, the goal of which is to enhance the degree of the population’s awareness about the viral hepatitis – an inflammatory disease of the liver, which cause severe hepatic diseases and liver cancer. This year, the event’s title is Hepatitis cannot wait, and conveys the emergency of the efforts necessary to eliminate hepatitis as a threat to public health till 2030.   
Hepatitis is an infectious disease of the liver, which consists in the destruction of the hepatic cells and can lead, during time, to the appearance of cirrhosis or liver cancer. There are five types of hepatitis – A, B, C, D or E. There are 325 million people infected with the B hepatitis virus or the C hepatitis virus in the world. The number of deaths triggered by hepatitis is on the rise and over 60 per cent of the liver cancer is due to the late testing and treatment of the B and C hepatitis.