Special drugs can halt hepatitis B worsening
Print Edition
SPECIALIST antiviral treatments can help people suffering from hepatitis B lead healthier lives and prevent the disease from progressing to cirrhosis and cancer, a doctor told a medical forum in Shanghai yesterday.
Announcing the results of a five-year study involving 5,333 Chinese people with hepatitis B, Dr Hou Jinlin, director of the Chinese Medical Association’s Society of Infectious Disease, said that the use of drugs such as entecavir, which has a high effectiveness and low resistance profile, had helped reduce the virus count in 85 percent of patients to an undetectable level.
The study is part of a global research program that will run for 10 years and involve about 12,500 people at different stages of hepatitis B.
About 30 million people in China have chronic hepatitis B, but just 19 percent have received proper antiviral therapy, compared with 70 percent in developed countries, Hou said.
Moreover, just 53 percent of people with the disease are aware that long-term antiviral therapy can help stop it progressing into a more serious condition, he said.
“The purpose of antiviral therapy is to prevent cirrhosis and liver cancer through long-term disease management and deterioration prevention,” Hou said.
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