Virendra Sharma – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-05-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the proportion of deaths from (a) liver disease and (b) viral hepatitis which were preventable in the last year for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison

Liver disease registered as the underlying cause of death, accounts for 2% of all deaths in England and 3% if all mentions are counted. Viral liver disease is registered for less than 0.1% of all deaths.

The main liver viral hepatitides are; A, B, C, D, E. Occasionally, other viruses cause hepatitis. Most people with hepatitis clear the virus after an acute infection. Death from acute viral hepatitis is very rare, a very small number of patients will be referred for liver transplantation. A proportion of deaths from chronic hepatitis B maybe preventable by vaccination and treatment. A proportion of deaths from chronic hepatitis C may be preventable by antiviral therapies. A significant proportion of hepatitis B and C is acquired outside the United Kingdom and therefore it is important to identify people carrying the viruses and offer treatment and vaccination to the close contacts of people with chronic hepatitis as appropriate.