Up to 25% of surveyed Vietnamese population detected with hepatitis B virus

From 8 to 25 percent of people in certain population groups in Vietnam are detected with hepatitis B virus, said Vietnam's Ministry of Health's General Department of Preventive Medicine (GDPM) on Friday.

The statistics was released on Friday at a seminar held by the department in Hanoi on implementation of a plan on prevention and fight against viral hepatitis during 2015-2019 period.

The GDPM cited a research in Vietnam as saying that some 2.5-4. 1 percent of citizens in such population groups are found positive with hepatitis C virus.

Meanwhile, among first-time blood donors whose ages are from 18 to 60, some 15-25 percent of them, despite remaining healthy, are detected with hepatitis B virus.

Reports at the seminar stated that Vietnam is a country with high proportion of citizens detected with hepatitis B and C virus, the state-run news agency VNA reported on Friday.

GDPM head Tran Dac Phu said at the seminar that the hepatitis is an infectious disease caused by various types of virus.

Among those, hepatitis viruses typed B and C often progress to severe complications such as chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver cancer and death.

In response to the situation, Vietnam's Ministry of Health has issued a plan to prevent and fight the disease during 2015-2019 period with an aim to reduce spreading of hepatitis viruses and increase local people's access to prevention, diagnosing and treatment of the disease.

According to the GDPM, the hepatitis caused by type B virus can be prevented through vaccination.

Hepatitis B virus vaccine has been implemented on children under one year old nationwide since 2003 with coverage rate of over 90 percent.

Since 2006, the vaccine has been applied to infants during their first 24 hours after birth, with coverage rate of 74 percent in 2012.

However, the rate went down to 56 percent in 2013 due to local parents'worries after post-vaccination complications happened in that year, said the department.