Hepatitis Awareness Month is designated in May to raise and spread awareness about hepatitis. Agencies across the country work to promote the importance of hepatitis vaccination and its effective care and treatment, and raise awareness about the consequences of it if it goes untreated. Hepatitis is liver inflammation. Heavy use of alcohol, toxins, some drugs, as well as viral and bacterial infections can lead to hepatitis. In the U.S., the most common forms of hepatitis include viral hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C.

For centuries, hepatitis was a regular thing among soldiers fighting in wars due to bad hygiene conditions. During the mid-19th century, Carl Rokitansky was the first to describe the virus. Soon after, the Civil War took place in the U.S. and many soldiers died due to the disease as well. Over a period of four years, there were around 50,000 confirmed hepatitis cases.

The 20th century saw advances in fighting diseases. It was during WWI that the link between fecal matter and the transmission of hepatitis was discovered. During WWII, Third Reich doctors used Germans as guinea pigs to prove that hepatitis could be of viral origin. At the beginning of the 1970s, the hepatitis A and B viruses were formally identified. However, years later, scientists found that blood transfusion also led to hepatitis — not A or B, but something different. They named it “non-A non-B hepatitis.” In 1989, this variation was identified and renamed hepatitis C virus (or HCV). Known to travel via the bloodstream, it could thus be transmitted by blood transfusion.

Towards the end of the 1990s, blood products were more closely monitored but more and more people were infected and the numbers were on the rise. The main cause was the sharing of contaminated needles among drug users. Since the 1990s, hepatitis C has been treated with a combination of a protein called interferon and an antiviral called ribavirin. But the cure rate is less than 50% and there are many side effects.

At the end of 2013, a new generation of treatments was developed called DAA (Direct-Acting Antiviral). But it was a minor development and very expensive. In June 2014, France and 14 other European countries launched a campaign calling on private labs to lower the price.

It sheds light on the importance of awareness about hepatitis and its proper vaccination. It also spreads the word about the latest research and developments.

To know more about it, visit this LINK.