Spate of Hepatitis D makes government pro-active

Hepatitis D is known to almost all of us. It is also referred to as Hepatitis D virus (HDV) and classified as Hepatitis delta virus and is a disease that is caused by a small circular RNA virus. The disease is deadly indeed and if apposite or preventive measures are not taken, it can lead to serious fallouts and even death. Well, the same is happening nowadays at Modassa town in the state of Gujarat. It has come to the knowledge that 12 persons have died and 35 fallen ill due to the deadly hepatitis D virus in the last week. It is feared that several cases are unknown yet and the number of affected persons are rising steadily.

The spate of the disease and the unusual situation has created uproar in the local and state administrations. This became evident when the officials of the state Health Department were found to initiate an intense investigation to find out the reason of the sudden eruption. The officials raided 10 private medical practitioners’ premises as a result. However they came out with only one success. It was found that the doctor was not using disposable syringes and not even sterilising them. There is no doubt that this is a dreadful offence and the officials initiated a process of filing an FIR against the doctor therefore. It is to be noted that the raid was conducted by a three-member rescue team of B J Medical College, Ahmedabad, led by Nayan Qadri.

Speaking on this, epidemic medical officer, Sabarkantha, A K Bhati told, "We had taken samples of syringes and other equipment from different medical practitioners to ensure that proper medical norms are observed when injectibles are being used."

Well, the government has taken steps to curb the disease already. It has been found 27 paramedics along with five doctors are surveying the area. On the other hand local administration has distributed over 25,000 pamphlets for the creation of consciousness about this disease. According to governmental sources, a team from National Institute of Communicable Diseases & Director General of Health Services (NICD & DGHS) will be in the affected area soon.