World Hepatitis Day

Today organizations around the world commemorate World Hepatitis Day to raise awareness of the problem of viral hepatitis, which impacts more than 325 million people worldwide. This day allows an opportunity to educate people about the burden of these infections, CDC’s efforts to combat viral hepatitis around the world, and actions people can take to prevent these infections.

Viral hepatitis — a group of infectious diseases known as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E — affects millions of people worldwide, causing both acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) liver disease. Viral hepatitis causes more than one million deaths each year. While deaths from tuberculosis and HIV have been declining, deaths from hepatitis are increasing.

Looking at San Diego’s history, there was an outbreak of hepatitis A, which took two years of extensive efforts to fight. To learn more about how this virus was controlled locally, this arread ticle from AP News.

Visit these sites to learn more about hepatitis and World Hepatitis Day:

https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/awareness/worldhepday.htm

https://www.worldhepatitisday.org/

https://www.fhcsd.org/hiv-and-hepatitis-services/