World Hepatitis Day brings awareness to fight against the virus, need for testing

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Thursday is World Hepatitis Day, a day to bring awareness about viral hepatitis.

World Hepatitis Day helps to highlight the importance of knowing your hepatitis status and spreading the word about treatment. It also promotes testing and prevention for all five types of the disease: A, B, C, D and E.

Hepatitis causes liver inflammation, leading to severe disease and liver cancer. Hepatitis-related illnesses kill about two people every minute all over the globe, according to the World Hepatitis Day website.

There has been considerable progress in preventing and treating hepatitis. There are vaccines for both hepatitis A and B. Still, WHO says the world is facing a new outbreak of acute hepatitis infections in children, adolescents and adults.It’s estimated that about 400 million people are infected by hepatitis worldwide and almost 90% of the people who have contracted hepatitis don’t realize they’re infected.

Learn more about World Hepatitis Day, the need to raise awareness and increase testing, and where the world stands on fighting hepatitis at worldhepatitisday.org.

Copyright 2022 WSFA 12 News. All rights reserved.