Hep C
Posted: Fri 30 September, 2005 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, Thoughts 3 Comments »The BBC today has been banging on about how Britain is ‘failing’ on Hepatitis C, and failing to diagnose it in the majority of cases.
Now OK, I’m sure I’m just being thick here, but how can a story say something like this?
[the study estimated] 500,000 UK people had the virus, which attacks the liver, but only one in seven knew. Only 1-2% of those with the disease in the UK had been identified and treated with approved drugs, which can cure between 60-80% of those treated, it said.
They estimate 500,000 people may have the virus, but they don’t know. I don’t see how you can come up with such a seemingly arbitrary figure as “we’re only diagnosing 2%” (or 10%, or 20% – the figure doesn’t matter) – because in honesty you have no fucking idea how many people actually carry the virus. That “2% diagnosed” could actually be 50% of the people with the virus – you don’t know, because you haven’t bloody well diagnosed them all.
Short of making it a compulsory test – and that would be too expensive to be feasible, I suspect – the figures are bollocks, and it all comes down to hype.
Or am I missing something relevant?
Trying to scare people in going to get the test and worrying some people witless.
It would not have appeared on the news if it was a non-event story. The News organisations always like to scare you first thing in the morning (i saw this on BBC breakfast news today).
This is self-evident, if you dig a little deeper. Shame the BBC hasn’t the inclination and / or resource to explain a little more.
“It (the study) compared the situation in the UK with France, Germany, Italy and Spain”
Other european countries have a increased level of population screening, and can demonstrate a higher incidence of HepC. Therefore, if we suppose that there is a similar infection rate across europe, the number of undiagnosed cases in the UK can be estimated.
The important thing is that, if we have a high number of people in the UK with a potentially fatal lever disease, we have to take account of that when planning resources in the NHS and particularly liver transplant capability.
Having had undiagnosed HepB for between 5-10 years, I now face a future with cirhossis, liver failure, cancer and transplantation . If I had been diagnosed earlier, through informed screening, the course of my illness could have been dramtically improved.
The BBC may not have done this story justice, but it is a very serious and important issue.
Thanks for the time to explain