Specialist: We have drop in hepatitis cases in Armenia, but rare cases of acute Hepatitis B and C are recorded

There is a decrease in cases of hepatitis in Armenia, but rare cases of acute Hepatitis B and C are recorded in the country. Romella Abovyan, head of the Epidemiology Department of Nosocomial Infections at the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, stated this at the press conference Friday, ahead of World Hepatitis Day.

Abovyan noted that hepatitis is mostly asymptomatic and many people are infected with Hepatitis B and C and are not aware of it.

"That is the main reason why the process of early detection among healthy people has been implemented for about seven to eight years [in Armenia]. Medical institutions, under the auspices of the state, carry out free examination of those in the risk period in order to identify the disease. In addition, there are mobile laboratories that also carry out research in the provinces within the framework of state funding to ensure early detection,” she said.

Abovyan noted that most of the hepatitis cases are recorded in age groups above 30.

"Our policy in the fight against this disease is vaccination for Hepatitis B and treatment for C," she added.

In turn, Marina Harutyunyan, Head of the Department of Drug Policy and Medical Technologies of the Ministry of Health of Armenia, informed that from 2020 to December 2023, about 2,569 patients with Hepatitis C received treatment in Armenia.

"From 2022, patients in prisons, who were outside of this program and never received treatment, have been added to the framework of these patients," she added.

Harutyunyan noted that as of 2023, about 250 of the 2,569 patients are those in Armenia’s prisons and have Hepatitis C.

According to her, from January 1, 2024 until now, 456 patients with hepatitis have been treated and are in the process of treatment, and 78 of them are patients in prisons.

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