1,258 hit by hepatitis

Rawalpindi:Out of a total of 40,051 persons so far screened for hepatitis B and C through a door-to-door campaign in as many as 10 selected union councils of Rawalpindi district, as many as 1,258 persons have been found positive through rapid test for hepatitis recording the prevalence rate of hepatitis as 3.14 per cent.

The highest rate of prevalence has been recorded as 7.51 per cent in Union Council 8, Fauji Colony area from where 137 persons have been found positive out of a total of 1824 persons screened under the Localized Hepatitis Elimination and Prevention Project (LHEAP). The population in union councils 6, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 32, 33 and 116 is being screened for hepatitis B and C under the LHEAP project that was exclusively launched to cover the population in Rawalpindi district on July 10 last year. Initially, the project was launched in as many as four UCs in Rawal Town that was later expanded to 10 UCs including one in Taxila.

The prevalence of hepatitis being recorded among the population in the selected union councils of Rawalpindi under the LHEAP project is much higher and the situation is alarming particularly because the majority of the patients tested positive are newly detected cases of the infection. According to Chief Executive Officer LHEAP Dr. Anser Ishaq, the teams of the project have so far visited a total of 9622 houses in the selected UCs while to date, a total of 21,032 persons have been provided with vaccination against hepatitis B under the project.

He informed ‘The News’ that out of 40051 persons so far screened, as many as 1029 have been found positive for hepatitis C and 209 for hepatitis B while 20 patients have been tested positive for both the hepatitis B and C. The situation is alarming as well over 70 per cent of the patients tested positive for hepatitis under the project are newly detected cases. The LHEAP has, initially, set a target of screening a total of 100,000 persons free of cost for hepatitis B and C in the selected union councils. The project has also started providing free of cost treatment to the patients being tested positive through PCR testing that is also being provided by the LHEP.