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The world is on the verge of a hepatitis epidemic
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
1/3 of all inhabitants of the Earth are infected with a virus that causes hepatitis and kills about a million people annually. Such data was published by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Meanwhile, many carriers of the virus are unaware of this and transmit it to other people. According to WHO, insufficient attention is paid to this problem in the world. At the same time, hepatitis can be transmitted in many ways: through water, food, blood, sperm and other biological fluids. The disease can provoke real epidemics, threatening mass cancer and cirrhosis of the liver.
Of all the hepatitis viruses, type B is the most common. It is transmitted from mother to child during birth or in childhood and through injections. But type E is transmitted through contaminated water and food (it is often recorded in developing countries). However, vaccines against it are not particularly widespread.