Hyderabad: Khammam in Telangana and East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh have the highest incidence of Hepatitis C, said Dr Nageshwar Reddy, the chairman of the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, during the launch of the Hepatitis C portal in the city on Monday. Hepatitis C is an asymptomatic disease and there is very little awareness about it among the population. The virus affects the liver, which leads to chronic liver diseases and causes liver cirrhosis and can also develop into liver cancer. Various studies have shown that there are 15 million people in India affected by Hepatitis C. In united Andhra Pradesh, the percentage ranges from 1.4 to 2.02, with the tribal areas recording the highest numbers.

The prominent reasons of contracting the disease are re-using of needles, using the same toothbrush and razor and also tattoos. One can also contract it from the health sector, from infected blood, IVF syringes and from re-used injection needles.

While the drugs were very costly in the past, recently there has been development of the drug Sofosbuvir, Ledipasvir, which has shown 95 to 100 per cent cure in the disease.
Dr Reddy said, “The advent of this drug has not only made the duration of the treatment short, from six months to three months, but has also reduced the cost to
Rs 60,000.”

As the Hepatitis C virus has various geno types, it has been found that genotype 3 is very common in North India while South India has genotype 1. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan inaugurated the portal and urged the gathering that they must work towards reducing the cost of the medicine further so that the treatment can be affordable. He said, “There is a very strong need to have a common price for diagnostics and treatment facilities which all corporate hospitals must come together and set. Also, the middle-class is badly burdened with the costs of healthcare and there is a need to do a lot more to ensure that it is made affordable for all.”

He also urged the medical fraternity in the gathering that the concept of family physicians and holistic approach towards treating patients must be adopted. He said, “Many a times, doctors never state the side effects of medicines. It is only after taking them do patients realise the problems. There is a need to look into all these aspects and give them the right guidance so that they can be mentally prepared to fight the disease. Otherwise most of them are forced to go from one hospital to another where they waste a lot of money.”