By Zainuddin Muhammad

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), they are gambling with their lives and the lives of others as one out of every 12 people in the world is a carrier of the hepatitis virus.

The risk is too big for them not to get tested, said state Health Department director Dr Nordiyanah Hassan, when opening the state level Hepatitis Day campaign at the Terengganu Trade Centre yesterday.

She said WHO statistics revealed that about 170 million or equivalent to three per cent of the world population were either battling liver cancer or liver cirrhosis after being inflicted with hepatitis C.

"Everybody here and elsewhere should be asking if he or she is a carrier as in this country alone, more than 1.6 million people are known carriers and 5.5 per cent of them are chronic cases.

"Men should be more concerned than women as they represent 3.5 per cent of the 100,000 liver cancer patients in Malaysia compared with two per cent for female patients."

Dr Nordiyanah said the Health Ministry had also found that the Chinese were the largest group of hepatitis virus carriers at between 60 and 70 per cent, followed by Malays (30 per cent) and Indians (10 per cent).

"Many are still in the dark and do not know that the hepatitis B or C virus spreads through blood and body fluids, which can happen during unprotected sex, blood transfusion, needle use, pregnancy's vertical transmission and other means.

"It is too risky to play the wait-and-see game because for a while, most patients will remain asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, with flu-like symptoms, nausea and vomiting. The best option is to go for a blood test."

She said although the ministry had done its best to promote awareness and encourage the majority of the population to test for hepatitis, prevention was still the best approach.

"We should all be living healthier lives and prevent the spread of diseases by not doing drugs or having multiple sex partners, or sharing personal items such as nail clippers, toothbrushes and razors.

"The younger generation are better equipped to handle the hepatitis viruses as since the early 1980s, all newborns were immunised against the viruses. But still, it is better to be safe than sorry."