Hepatitis Pollution in India

1997/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna

Last year, about 10,000 people were affected by Delhin dengue disease. More than 400 of them died from supposed fever. It was thought that the plague had done all its damage, but some researchers have come to other consequences. Some patients who received blood transfusions during the Dengue epidemic now have hepatitis.

According to experts, there are few cases of hepatitis from blood transfusions. However, severe types of hepatitis B and C have been detected in some patients and it is very difficult to know how many Indians have received blood.

Currently in most blood banks in India it is not tested whether the blood carries hepatitis C or not, since the analysis is very expensive. In the case of hepatitis B, the test is performed only in a third of blood banks. As a result, there are many possibilities of spreading this disease.