World Hepatitis Day has been observed annually on July 28 for years to raise global awareness of hepatitis B and hepatitis C and encourage prevention, yet nearly 90 percent of Taiwanese still cling to the mistaken notion that “staying up late” is a major cause of liver cancer, according to a recent survey conducted by the Health Promotion Administration.
The telephone survey, conducted among 1,729 people aged between 25 and 64, showed that only 68 percent and 54 percent of the respondents accurately identified hepatitis B and hepatitis C as the major causes of liver cancer respectively.
More alarming is that while 90 percent of those polled are aware that hepatitis can be controlled by doctors through regular treatment and follow-ups, nearly 30 percent of respondents who have the disease have never sought treatment, the survey showed.
Among them, 88 percent said they did not seek medical care because they did not show any worrisome symptoms, while 8 percent said they were too occupied with other things to make time to do so, the poll indicated.
Nevertheless, the survey showed that nearly 60 percent of those with untreated hepatitis expressed a willingness to seek medical attention after being informed that the liver disease can be managed.
“People who have contracted viral hepatitis are urged to seek immediate treatment as the disease has been known as the ‘silent killer,’” Health Promotion Administration Director Chiu Shu-ti (邱淑媞) said.
According to statistics provided by the administration, an average of 13,000 Taiwanese die of liver disease each year, accounting for about 8 percent of the nation’s average annual number of deaths, more than diabetes (6 percent) and high blood pressure (3 percent).
Citing a 2005 study by Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital vice superintendent Yu Ming-lung (余明隆), the administration said the research found that patients with chronic hepatitis C who regularly receive anti-viral agents and interferon face a 65 percent lower risk of developing liver cancer.
“In addition, it also discovered that hepatitis B carriers can reduce the risk of liver cirrhosis by 47 percent and liver cancer by 78 percent if they receive regular treatment,” the administration said.
Other research also yielded similar results, the administration said, referring to a study published by National Yang Ming University’s Institute of Clinical Medicine professors Wu Jaw-ching (吳肇卿) and Wu Chun-ying (吳俊穎) earlier this month that showed that hepatitis B carriers who are regularly treated with anti-viral medicine can reduce their risk of liver cancer by 63 percent.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods