Warning scary virus causing liver cancer

The team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University Hospital of Geneva (HUG) in Switzerland studied patients with HCC, a dangerous form of liver cancer, with a high risk of death. than other forms.

Hepatitis D is a viral disease, occurring only in people who already have hepatitis B.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is an extremely dangerous form of liver cancer - (image courtesy of the Internet).

Analyzing 100,000 patients from data from 93 prospective studies, the authors found that patients with hepatitis D had a three-fold increased risk of HCC than those with inflammation. Hepatitis B alone. And yet, the co-infection of these two forms of hepatitis strongly promotes the progression of this deadly cancer.

Due to inadequate attention, the number of people infected with hepatitis D is still unclear. But researchers estimate the number of patients worldwide is between 15-60 million. In Switzerland alone, they calculated that about 25,000 patients were infected with hepatitis B and 1,500 of them were co-infected with hepatitis D.

Dr Francesco Nergo, a member of the research team, said the results showed that it is necessary to screen people with hepatitis D virus to put them into a screening program, to detect liver cancer more closely.

This again emphasizes the protection against hepatitis B, which is also an indirect way to prevent hepatitis D and the more serious diseases it leads to such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Hepatitis B is spread through blood, sex, and mother to child; can be prevented well with vaccines.