Contrary to previous findings, people with hepatitis C are five times as likely to develop liver cancer as those with hepatitis B, a leading researcher said yesterday.
Speaking at the 12th Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA) International Symposium, Michael Lai (賴明詔), vice president of Academia Sinica, said that combined with heavy drinking, the risk level rises to 10 times.
Lai made the statement during the presentation of his latest paper, "A journey through RNA viruses: From coronavirus to hepatitis C virus replication and pathogenesis."
Nicknamed “the father of coronavirus,” Lai yesterday also received the SCBA Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest SCBA honor.
Hepatitis is a common illness of the liver, which affects millions of people in Asia. While the prevalence of hepatitis C in Taiwan is 2 percent, it is higher for hepatitis B.
“There are hepatitis A, B, C, D and E; While hepatitis A and E are acute, B, C and D are chronic liver diseases,” said Lai, who is also the president of National Cheng Kung University.
In the past, up to 90 percent of the nation's liver cancer cases were caused by hepatitis B, but this has been reversed since the development of the hepatitis B vaccine, he said.
“In southern Taiwan, more than half of liver cancer cases are induced by hepatitis C,” Lai said.
“Because the disease does not yet have a vaccine and medication is also only effective in 50 percent of cases, it is very important that we work on developing a hepatitis C vaccine,” he said.
Lai added that the probability of hepatitis C patients getting liver cancer was much higher than those with hepatitis B.
“While the amount of time that the hepatitis C virus is found in the human body is usually shorter — because whereas most hepatitis B patients contract the virus in early childhood, many hepatitis C patients get the disease later in life — those with hepatitis C are five times as likely as their counterparts to develop liver cancer,” he said.
The risks of people with hepatitis C contracting liver cancer could rise another two-fold — or 10 times more than the risk level for people with hepatitis B — if they are heavy drinkers or consume a large amount of high-fat foods, Lai said.
Hepatitis C sufferers should therefore abstain from alcohol and engage in routine liver function checks every four months, he said.
“Many people in the south go to local pharmacies to receive 'nutrient injections,' an effort to give their livers supplements,” Lai said.
“However, this kind of behavior may only make their conditions worse,” he said.
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