מתוך medicontext.co.il
By Karla Gale
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) – The National Medical Association (NMA), in a concerted effort to help eliminate hepatitis in the African-American community, has issued new guidelines for the prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis.
According to Dr. Lucille C. Norville Perez, president of the NMA in Washington, DC, the guidelines "coincide with the Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2010 initiative, which is committed to the elimination of disparities in healthcare."
The guidelines address four key efforts: universal vaccination, increased education, advocacy, and ongoing surveillance and research to eradicate the disease.
Dr. Perez noted that African Americans have a significantly higher prevalence of hepatitis B and C than whites do. The chronicity of these two diseases, and the mortality rates attributed to them, are also higher.
Part of the reason for this is because African Americans are typically diagnosed later than whites, Dr. Perez said. "There are also all the other things impacting their lives that put them at risk for more rapid progression," she told Reuters Health, which include drinking, other insults to the liver, poor nutrition, poverty, and overall worse health status.
Dr. Joanna Buffington, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, highlighted other reasons for the disproportionate effect of hepatitis B and C on African Americans. "Access to vaccinations has not been equitable. Also, blood transfusions before 1990 were a risk factor, and African Americans tend to have more transfusions because of such illnesses as sickle cell anemia."
She added that African-American infants are less likely to be vaccinated against hepatitis B than infants in other ethnic groups. "This doesn't get highlighted often," Dr. Buffington said in an interview with Reuters Health, "but if a mother is chronically infected, about 90% of infants who aren't immunized will themselves develop chronic hepatitis B."
Immigrants from Africa and Asia have high rates of hepatitis B, the CDC researcher added. "Another problem is that African Americans are more likely to be infected with the type of virus–genotype 1–that is the hardest to treat. The rate of infection with genotype 1 is about 90% in the African-American population, versus 70% in the general population."
"We want to see vaccinations made available for young adults," Dr. Perez emphasized. "Because of the increased sexual activity and drug activity between the ages of 18 and 34, having it associated with admission to college, or as a requirement for job placement as we do with tuberculosis screening, would be appropriate."
תגובות רוצה להצטרף לדיון?
יש להתחבר כדי להגיב.
התחבראין תגובות עדיין. היה הראשון להגיב!