Fighting against viral hepatitis: Lessons from Taiwan

[Guest guest]

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hep.24500/abstract

Fighting against viral hepatitis: Lessons from Taiwan??

Ding-Shinn Chen,§Article first published online: 25 JUL 2011

DOI: 10.1002/hep.24500

Copyright © 2011 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Issue

Hepatology

Volume 54, Issue 2, pages 381-392, August 2011

Abstract

Viral hepatitis and its sequelae are important health problems worldwide,

including Taiwan. For the last 40 years, Taiwan's scientists and health care

providers have worked hard to control these sequelae, and the results have been

excellent. The author, Ding-Shinn Chen, had a key role in planning and

establishing the control program in Taiwan, and participated in the endeavors

from the very beginning. In this perspective, he describes how he became

interested in research as a medical student, his encounters with hepatitis B and

C, how he and his colleagues started early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma

(HCC), how he helped Taiwan's government create and implement the Viral

Hepatitis Control Program, and how the effectiveness of the program in the

decrease of hepatitis B carriage and HCC was monitored. He also discusses how he

pioneered the use of interferon-á plus ribavirin to treat chronic hepatitis C.

Hepatitis B viral load as a risk factor for HCC and cirrhosis in hepatitis B

surface antigen carriers is reviewed briefly, as is the prevention of sequelae

by antiviral therapies. Finally, Dr. Chen discusses unresolved issues that must

be addressed and predicts the changes of the patterns of liver disease in Taiwan

beyond the mid-21st century, which is in part affected by the fight against

viral hepatitis that was initiated in the early 1980s. Conclusion: Dr. Chen's

perspective illustrates Taiwan's fight against viral hepatitis over the last 40

years. This experience can be shared by other countries in which the disease is

equally prevalent. (HEPATOLOGY 2011;)

[Guest guest]

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hep.24500/abstract

Fighting against viral hepatitis: Lessons from Taiwan??

Ding-Shinn Chen,§Article first published online: 25 JUL 2011

DOI: 10.1002/hep.24500

Copyright © 2011 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Issue

Hepatology

Volume 54, Issue 2, pages 381-392, August 2011

Abstract

Viral hepatitis and its sequelae are important health problems worldwide,

including Taiwan. For the last 40 years, Taiwan's scientists and health care

providers have worked hard to control these sequelae, and the results have been

excellent. The author, Ding-Shinn Chen, had a key role in planning and

establishing the control program in Taiwan, and participated in the endeavors

from the very beginning. In this perspective, he describes how he became

interested in research as a medical student, his encounters with hepatitis B and

C, how he and his colleagues started early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma

(HCC), how he helped Taiwan's government create and implement the Viral

Hepatitis Control Program, and how the effectiveness of the program in the

decrease of hepatitis B carriage and HCC was monitored. He also discusses how he

pioneered the use of interferon-á plus ribavirin to treat chronic hepatitis C.

Hepatitis B viral load as a risk factor for HCC and cirrhosis in hepatitis B

surface antigen carriers is reviewed briefly, as is the prevention of sequelae

by antiviral therapies. Finally, Dr. Chen discusses unresolved issues that must

be addressed and predicts the changes of the patterns of liver disease in Taiwan

beyond the mid-21st century, which is in part affected by the fight against

viral hepatitis that was initiated in the early 1980s. Conclusion: Dr. Chen's

perspective illustrates Taiwan's fight against viral hepatitis over the last 40

years. This experience can be shared by other countries in which the disease is

equally prevalent. (HEPATOLOGY 2011;)