More than half of people with hepatitis C are unaware in Spain
Written by:Hepatitis C is an infectious disease that already affects 900,000 people in Spain and the forecasts point to an upturn in the disease between 2020 and 2030. And, most worrying, of those 900,000, 500,000 are unaware that they have this disease , according to data from the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEHH).
Hepatitis is a disease without symptoms and the first cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. Its detection is achieved with a simple blood test but it is necessary to ensure that the population, especially the population with the highest risk to acquire it, approaches their doctor to undergo this analysis.
That is why the information campaign has launched. A simple gesture can change your life. As explained by the secretary of the AEEH, Dr. José Luis Calleja, this campaign "is specifically aimed at informing patients, so that those with risk factors can perform a blood test and reach the diagnosis of a simple way ".
How hepatitis is spread
The main routes of contagion of hepatitis are to share syringes during the consumption of drugs, accidental punctures with material that have been used affected by the disease, unsterilized needles (including needles for tattoos and piercings), as well as to share earrings, blades of shaving or toothbrushes. It is also transmitted from mother to child during childbirth and by having unprotected sex with an infected person.