Egypt, known for the pyramids and the Sphinx, also has a much less desirable notable; it has the highest incidence rate of hepatitis C in the world.
The numbers are actually astounding. More than 500,000 new cases are reported annually and 7 out of 1000 Egyptians get infected per annum.
According to the Egyptian National Committee on Viral Hepatitis, 9.8 per cent of Egyptians are HCV infected, but “unofficial” sources like physicians believe the number is closer to 15 or 20 percent.
What is the explanation for this dramatic prevalence, especially a viral infection that infects only about 2 percent of the world’s population?
According to findings of a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Egypt and other Middle Eastern and North African countries suffer from a high amount of unnecessary injections and transfusions with reuse of needles and syringes.
It actually goes back several decades when doctors in the Nile River area used injectable treatments for the treatment and control of schistosomiasis. Certainly unsterilized, reused needles were a problem back then.
In addition, especially with the rural Egyptian poor, medications of questionable efficacy and superstitious medical practices have worsened the cases.
Hepatitis C is a contagious liver disease that results from infection with hepatitis C virus. It can range in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, lifelong illness. Hepatitis C is usually spread when blood from a person infected with hepatitis C virus enters the body of
someone who is not infected.
Hepatitis C can be either "acute" or "chronic". Acute hepatitis C virus infection is a short-term illness that occurs within the 1st 6 months after someone is exposed to hepatitis C virus. For most people, acute infection leads to chronic infection. Chronic hepatitis C is a serious disease than can result in long-term health problems, or even death. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C.
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