-->
About Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar
Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar is a partnership between Cornell University and Qatar Foundation. It offers pre-medical and medical courses leading to the Cornell University MD degree with teaching by Cornell and Weill Cornell faculty and by physicians at Hamad Medical Corporation and Aspetar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital who hold Weill Cornell appointments.
Doha, May 14, 2013. About 150
million people worldwide are chronically
infected and at risk of developing liver cirrhosis and/or liver cancer, and
more than 350 000 people die from Hepatitis C virus (HCV) related liver
diseases every year, Dr. Laith Abu-Raddad said last night at a community health
forum in Doha.
Dr. Abu-Raddad was addressing the monthly Medicine & U
health outreach program at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar in Education
City.
“While HCV currently affects less than two per cent of the
world’s population, Egypt has by far the highest HCV prevalence in the world
with about 15 per cent of its population infected with the virus. This striking
difference is a result of a tragic HCV epidemic in Egypt that has been
described as the world’s largest iatrogenic transmission epidemic of a blood
borne pathogen,” Dr. Abu-Raddad said.
Hepatitis C virus is a major cause of liver disease and
liver cancer. It is usually spread through the sharing of infected needles,
receiving infected blood and other exposures to blood or bodily fluids. The
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that every year, 3–4 million people
are newly infected with HCV.
“The epidemic ironically started as a consequence of health
care campaigns conducted from the 1950s to the early 1980s against
schistosomiasis (known commonly as bilharzia). Addressing Hepatitis C in Egypt
is one of the largest health challenges faced by this country today, and has
strained its resources by dealing with a large pool of about six million
chronically infected people. Recent evidence suggests that the anti-schistosomiasis
campaigns were not the only drivers of this epidemic. Some of those drivers
continue to be in play today resulting in on-going HCV transmission in Egypt,”
Dr. Abu-Raddad said.
In his presentation, Dr. Abu-Raddad described how the HCV epidemic
has emerged including the contextual factors surrounding its emergence. Causes
of current new infections and the latest advances in scientific research on
this epidemic were highlighted and the talk included a discussion of the key
priorities in relation to prevention programs and scientific research.
Dr. Abu-Raddad is Associate Professor of Public Health,
principal investigator of the Infectious Disease Group and director of the
Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Biomathematics Research Core at WCMC-Q.
Hepatitis C Fact Sheet
·
Hepatitis is a term that
means inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis C
infection is a liver infection caused by the Hepatitis
C virus (HCV).
·
HCV was first identified in 1989.
·
Currently it affects less than 2%
of the world’s population.
·
Every year, 3–4 million people
are newly infected with HCV. About 150 million people worldwide are chronically
infected, and more than 350,000 people die from HCV-related liver diseases
every year.
·
Egypt has by far the highest HCV
prevalence in the world at 14.7%, ten-fold higher than the global prevalence
levels.
·
HCV is transmitted through
contact with the blood of an infected person. Usually this is through the sharing
of infected needles and/or receiving infected blood.
·
It is possible to transfer
the hepatitis C virus to your baby. Research shows that the risk of
transmission to a baby during childbirth is about 5%.
·
Hepatitis C infection can range
in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, life-long
condition that can lead to liver cirrhosis or liver cancer.
·
The infection usually begins in a
gradual manner with vague symptoms like tiredness, loss of appetite, abdominal
discomfort, nausea and vomiting, fever etc. During the early phase of infection with HCV there
may be no symptoms. Symptoms may not appear until the liver is significantly
damaged.
·
The initial six months is the
period of acute infection. Around 25% of infected persons can successfully
fight off the infection and become free of the virus. In the rest, the virus
remains in the body for many years giving rise to chronic Hepatitis C infection.
·
Slowly the infection may progress
to jaundice in about 25% of patients. If there are other risk factors such as
alcohol use, around 10 to 40% of these people will go on to develop scarring of
the liver often many years after the initial infection.
·
There is no vaccine against HCV. Treatment
of people with new HCV infections with interferon and antivirals can get rid of
the virus in up to 60% of people within 24 to 72 weeks. This treatment is
expensive and may have severe side effects.
·
The best way to prevent HCV is by
following proper infection control practices in medical settings, and avoiding
behaviors that can spread the disease such as injection drug use and the
sharing of infected needles.
Published here:
Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar is a partnership between Cornell University and Qatar Foundation. It offers pre-medical and medical courses leading to the Cornell University MD degree with teaching by Cornell and Weill Cornell faculty and by physicians at Hamad Medical Corporation and Aspetar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital who hold Weill Cornell appointments.
Through its biomedical research program,
WCMC-Q is building a sustainable research community in Qatar while advancing
basic science and clinical research. Through its medical college, WCMC-Q seeks
to provide the finest education possible for medical students, to improve
health care both now and for future generations, and to provide highest quality
of health care to the Qatari population.
No comments:
Post a Comment