Every Nigerian has been urged to be involved in the fight and elimination of Hepatitis B Virus in the country.
A guest lecturer and Professor of Medicine and Gastroenterology, at the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Akande Oladimeji Ajayi made the appeal at the 65th inaugural lecture of the university.
He decried the rate at which the disease is increasing in the country, adding that relevant bodies should get involved in the task of treating or eliminating the ailment which he said following an incubation period of 1-4 months symptomatic hepatitis occurs in about one-third of adults, in about 10% of children of 5 years and only rarely in children of one year.
Ajayi gave some of the ways the infection with hepatitis B virus can manifest to include malaise, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, fever, dark urine, clay-coloured stool, flu-like symptoms, jaundice (yellow eyes and skin), joint pains, tiredness/weakness, abdominal pain, abdominal swelling, unexplained weight loss and so on.
According to him, “the economic burden of HBV infection is quite substantial because of the high morbidity and mortality associated with end-stage liver disease, cirrhosis and HCC”.
He named five major types of viral Hepatitis as A,B,C,D,and E. The guest lecturer told his audience that Hepatitis A and E are acute and short term in nature, while hepatitis B, C and D are chronic and long-term.
Hence, he suggested that all tertiary hospitals should be equipped with diagnostic facilities and HBV-DNA viral load test to be heavily subsidized, inclusion of HBV diagnosis and treatment in NHIS program, NPI should be expanded to include the adolescent, compulsory screening of all blood and blood products before transfusion is made, treatment of HBV should be included in the HIV/AIDS program among others.