Brasília, May 6, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Five million people in Brazil are carriers of hepatitis. Around two million are chronic victims of hepatitis B, while three million suffer from hepatitis C. Together they represent eight times the number afflicted with HIV/Aids, according to the Ministry of Health.

Hepatitis B is considered a serious public health problem. The disease can evolve into cirrhosis or liver cancer. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly two billion people around the world have already been in contact with the hepatitis B virus, and 325 million have become chronic victims of the disease. The WHO believes that 170 million people suffer from hepatitis C, which is nowadays the most important chronic infectious disease in the world.

To debate this theme, regarded as significant to public health, an international meeting, with participation by specialists from England, Spain, the United States, and Argentina, is being held today and tomorrow (7) in Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil.

An agreement between the Ministry of Health and the University of Pernambuco will permit research to identify the incidence of viral hepatitides in Brazil. The study will cost US$ 735 thousand (R$ 2.2 million). The research will involve approximately 31.2 thousand people, age 5 and older, who reside in urban zones in all of Brazil's state capitals. The study should be concluded at the end of 2005.

Many carriers of the disease are unaware they have it. Unlike what many people imagine, hepatitis victims don't always manifest symptoms like jaundice, dark-colored urine, and whitish feces. In many instances, the disease is "silent." When it is finally diagnosed, the liver is impaired, which makes the patient's recovery difficult and can be fatal.

Translator: David Silberstein