Killer diseases: Hepatitis – Geography

With one and a half million deaths each year, hepatitis is in the top league of modern killer diseases. The disease takes many forms – A, B, C, D, E and G, but they’re not all as serious or as common. 

Hepatitis B and C are the most deadly. Almost 400 million people are chronic carriers of one or the other. B is mainly found in Sub-Saharan Africa and south-east Asia, and C in North Africa, the Indian Sub-Continent and in south-east Asia too.

Hepatitis C virus, which is transmitted by blood, kills around 500,000 people a year. There’s no vaccine and treatment is hard to get. With over 5 million sufferers, Egypt, Pakistan, China, Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Nigeria are the 5 worst affected countries.