Dr. Kwadwo Asamoah Kusi, a Senior Research Fellow at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research‘s (NMIMR) Immunology Department, has called for a national guideline for Hepatitis B testing and diagnosis in all health facilities.
He said there was currently a problem with the type of Risk-Based Testing (RBT) used to test for Hepatitis ‘B,’ with each health facility using whatever they had, with no standardization.
According to the Senior Research Fellow, a national guideline is needed to ensure consistency in practice.
Dr. Kusi was speaking at a meeting in Accra on Thursday to evaluate the Hepmal project’s implementation in Ghana over the previous six months.
The project, titled “Clinical and Immunopathological Consequences of Chronic Hepatitis B and Plasmodium Falciparum-Co-Infections,” aims to determine the effect of having both Hepatitis B and malaria infection on the liver’s health, as both diseases affect the liver.
It is also intended to serve as a forum for conducting more Hepatitis B studies and gathering more information to inform the public about the importance of checking and knowing one’s condition and getting vaccinated.
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The European Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) sponsored the four-year project, according to Dr. Kusi, who is also the Program Coordinator for the HEPMAL project .
“This project is looking at what happens in the liver when you have both malaria and Hepatitis B infections, and how one affects the other,” he said. “For example, if you have a chronic Hepatitis B infection and you get malaria, does it make your case better or worse, and vice versa.”
He urged the government to enact legislation that would make adult HBV vaccinations mandatory.
Professor Abraham Annag, Director of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, said Ghana needed to do more to improve Hepatitis ‘B’ screening and vaccination coverage.
He suggested that the Ghana Health Service consider active testing and vaccination of prisoners to help break the virus’s transmission chain.
HBV is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). It can be severe and go away on its own. Some types, however, may be chronic, leading to cirrhosis and liver cancer.
HBV can infect the liver and cause inflammation. An individual may be infected with HBV and spread the virus to others without even realizing it.
HBV is spread when blood, sperm, or other bodily fluid from someone who has the virus reaches the body of someone who does not.
It is spread through sex, breastfeeding, the use of dangerous tattoo procedures, and the sharing of needles, syringes, and other drug-injection products.
Joint pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, lack of appetite, stomach pain, dark urine, clay-colored stools, and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes) are all early signs.
SOURCE: ATLFMONLINE
