Experts Rally to get European Commitment to Halting the Hepatitis B and C Epidemic

BRUSSELS, October 15, 2010 - In an unprecedented move to address the public health threat that viral
hepatitis represents across the European Union (EU), leading physicians,
scientists and patient groups demanded policy action[i] from EU officials at
today's Summit Conference on Hepatitis B and C. New research highlights how
Member States are failing to consistently implement prevention, screening,
surveillance and early treatment programmes that would help to halt the
epidemic.[ii],[iii]

At least 23 million people are estimated to be living with chronic
hepatitis B and C, but data available show that this does not reflect the
true burden of this life-threatening health issue.[iv] Liver cancer related
deaths, which are attributed to chronic infection with viral hepatitis B or C
in up to 85 percent of the cases,[v] have increased significantly over the
past two decades in Europe.[vi]

A co-chair of the Partnership Steering Group, Professor Massimo Colombo
of the University of Milan, Italy said: "Throughout the conference,
presentations have shown that we have the knowledge and tools available with
prevention, screening and effective treatments to manage the problem and that
these can be put into place. Now we must work towards developing and
implementing integrated European policies that can stop this hepatitis B and
C timebomb."

Highlights from the latest research include a report from the European
Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) which concluded that
harmonization of EU surveillance will represent an added value as it will
make it possible to assess the disease burden, evaluate the impact of
prevention and control strategies and define epidemiological trends or
transmission patterns.[ii] Building on these findings, the International
Centre for Migration Health and Development presented evidence that there are
clear benefits for prevention programmes to be implemented within the EU to
reach at-risk populations. Plans should include better coordination and
coverage with vaccination against hepatitis B plus education, surveillance
and screening programmes to address the challenges of infectious disease like
viral hepatitis, when populations from endemic zones relocate to and across
Europe.[vii]

Ultimately, inadequate prevention through public awareness and screening,
as well as a lack of early diagnosis protocols are the key barriers to
effectively managing viral hepatitis. For hepatitis B, vaccination for
children has been effectively implemented across most Member States, but
considerable efforts still need to be made to capture age-groups that
preceded the introduction of these immunization programmes.

The Call to Action[i] calls for policy solutions to: develop and
accelerate EU-wide surveillance through co-ordinated programmes; promote
universal access to early treatment; improve public awareness on the risks
and to integrate prevention programmes into existing public health
frameworks; establish cost-effective and targeted screening programmes for
at-risk populations and to expand research resources in hepatitis B and C.

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[i] Call to Action. Presented at the Hepatitis B and C Summit Conference
in Brussels on 15/10/2010. www.hepsummit2010.org/

[ii] European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Surveillance and
prevention of hepatitis B and C in Europe. Stockholm, October 2010
www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/Publications/101012_TER_HepBandC_survey.pdf

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[iii] Hepatitis Patient Self-Help in Europe. European Liver Patient
Association. September 2010

[iv] Piorkowsky N Y. Europe's hepatitis challenge: defusing the "viral
timebomb". Journal of Hepatology 51 (2009) 1068

[v] Perz JF, Armstrong GL, Farrington LA, Hutin YJ, Bell BP. The
contributions of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infections to
cirrhosis and primary liver cancer worldwide. J Hepatol 2006;45:529–38.

[vi] McGlynn KA, Tsao L, Hsing AW, et al. International trends and
patterns of primary liver cancer. Int J Cancer. 2001;94:290-296

[vii] Carballo M, Cody R, O'Reilly E. Migration, Hepatitis B and
Hepatitis C. International Centre for Migration, Health and Development.
October 2010.

Contact details: For more information including arranging interviews, journalists should
contact our press office: Travis Taylor, +44(0)207-331-5472, travis.taylor at cohnwolfe.com