10:49am Sunday 21st February 2010
By Peter Magill
MEDICS and drug treatment services are being urged to step up the fight against Hepatitis C after public health chiefs estimated it would cost East Lancashire £2.4million to treat within five years.
Nearly 2,300 people in the area will be battling the blood infection, which can lead to liver cancer and death, according to new NHS figures.
And concern has been expressed at the high rate of drug users in Blackburn with Darwen who are known to be carriers.
More than 50 per cent of injecting drug users, who visit the borough’s action team, are thought to be carriers, and between 25 and less than half in the rest of East Lancashire.
An estimated 693 people in Blackburn with death will contract the condition over the next five years, leading to around 47 deaths.
In East Lancashire, covering Burnley, Pendle, Hyndburn, Rossendale and Ribble Valley, there will be 1,588 cases and 108 fatalities.
The findings have been disclosed in a new NHS North West report, examining the prevention and treatment of Hep C.
Dr Ruth Hussey, NHS North West’s public health director, said: “Hepatitis C is a major public health problem and there are particular challenges with regard to surveillance, especially at local and regional level.
“Further work is needed to improve the quality of local estimates of C incidence and prevalence. A large proportion of cases are undiagnosed and, if left untreated, infection can cause serious liver disease including liver cancer and cirrhosis.”
“The costs of treating advanced disease are considerable and will continue to rise unless urgent steps are taken to reduce the risk of infection and improve access to early diagnosis and treatment.
“Deaths, transplants and hospital admissions for hepatitis-related end stage liver disease are increasing.”
Hospital admissions in East Lancashire for Hep C steadily increased from 2005 to 2007, the report states.
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