Dr. Nikhitha Mantri, Fellow in Gastrointestinal services at Bronx Care Hospital, New York, has called for concerted efforts to prevent the spread of Hepatitis C.
Delivering a lecture on Hepatitis C under the aegis of the medical education unit at the Government Medical College here on January 24 (Tuesday), she said it had been estimated that 1% of the world population suffered from the viral infection and underlined the importance of routine screening of the entire population for it.
Dr. Mantri spoke about the prevalence of Hepatitis C across the global population and elaborated on the effects of the virus on the liver. She said that the main modes of transmission of Hepatitis C were through blood transfusion, sexual contact, mother-to-child transmission, and injections in drug abusers.
“There is no vaccine developed for Hepatitis C. Hence it is important to treat all the affected individuals with drugs,” she emphasised.
Hepatitis C in pregnancy poses special challenges which need to be addressed by multi-disciplinary approach, she added.
She cleared the doubts of medical students and faculty members during the seminar presided over by Government Medical College Principal Dr. P. V. Sudhakar.
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