Urgent warning Victorian disease spread via sex ‘set to overtake TB as world’s most deadly infection’

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VIRAL hepatitis appears to be overtaking tuberculosis as the world’s most deadly infectious disease.

Hepatitis B and C now claim as many lives as TB – despite the existence of vaccines and treatments – new figures show.

GettyHepatitis B and C viruses are the most severe strains of the disease[/caption]

Both viruses led to 1.3million deaths in 2022, new data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed.

Experts estimate that if the current trajectory continues, the disease will kill more people annually than malaria, TB and Aids combined by 2040.

“Despite progress globally in preventing hepatitis infections, deaths are rising because far too few people with hepatitis are being diagnosed and treated,” WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Dr Graham Cooke of Imperial College London said the virus – which can be spread through sex – is being sidelined.

“Viral hepatitis isn’t getting the attention it needs globally, partly because when the Global Fund was set up for HIV, TB and malaria, the burden of viral hepatitis wasn’t recognised,” he told the Telegraph.

Two-thirds of the global disease burden of viral hepatitis falls on just 10 countries: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Philippines and Russia.

In the UK, estimates suggest around 270,000 people live with hepatitis B and C, with at least half undiagnosed. 

Viral hepatitis refers to five different forms of virus (known as A, B, C, D, E).

Two strains of the virus, hepatitis B and C, lead to long-term disease, with hepatitis B causing the vast majority of deaths.

Both can cause serious liver damage and predispose people to liver cancer.

Signs can include flu-like symptoms, feeling tired all the time, loss of appetite, stomach ache, and sickness, according to the NHS.

People don’t always feel the symptoms of the initial infection, they can be unaware of the long-term damage until it is too late.

Both hepatitis B and C are contracted through blood-to-blood contact.

This includes childbirth, sex, the sharing of needles, and inadequate sterilisation of medical equipment. 

This month, a new NHS England testing initiative was announced, aimed at identifying those unknowingly living with hepatitis C.

Liver scanning and portable testing units to be rolled out in communities where people may be at a higher risk.

Also included in the initiative are testing events happening at GP surgeries and community outreach at drug and alcohol support services.

Scientists from the WHO examined data from 187 countries and assessed the world’s progress toward eliminating the disease.

They found that the number of deaths linked to viral hepatitis rose by more than 18 per cent from 2021 to 2022 – up from 1.1million deaths.

Though new cases declined during that time, the report says the world is “off-track” toward the WHO’s goal of reducing new hepatitis infections by 90 per cent and deaths by 65 per cent by 2030.

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