| Subject: Routine testing justified--Japan |
Author:
Reuters
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: Mon, July 30 2001, 8:09:58 PDT
July 11, 2001
The Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry has decided to include tests for the hepatitis C virus in standard health checkups conducted nationwide for local homemakers and self-employed workers aged 40 and older in order to detect the disease earlier, ministry sources said Tuesday.
The health checkup, which would cover more than 1 million people under the Health and Medical Service Law for the Aged, is expected to be put into effect nationwide starting the next fiscal year.
The ministry estimates more than 10,000 additional cases of infection will be discovered per year by including the procedure in the checkup.
Since hepatitis C virus carriers do not show symptoms, it often develops into liver cirrhosis and even liver cancer without their knowing they are infected.
More than 70 percent of the 45,000 deaths related to liver cancer and cirrhosis each year are known to have developed from hepatitis C infections. The government had been urged to find a method of early detection of the infection.
The standard health checkup is extended to those who are not covered by company-based checkups and is designed to detect diseases resulting from lifestyles and habits. Most of the cost of the procedure will be borne equally by three levels of government--central, prefectural and municipal, and town and village governments, while the recipients themselves will also pay a portion.
Under the envisioned plan, tests for hepatitis C will be conducted on recipients every five years from the ages of 40 to 70.
Those who are found to be positive will be tested to see if they are infected with persistent hepatitis, which could develop into chronic hepatitis.
Those who are infected with persistent hepatitis will be advised to undergo further testing. Medical systems will be improved to give advanced treatment to those who are found to be in serious condition.
Until now, in standard health checkups covering homemakers and the self-employed and those offered by private companies, liver condition was only determined from the results of blood tests.
According to recent research by the Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry, out of 40-year-olds who had been infected with the persistent hepatitis C virus and who did not show any abnormal liver condition, 61 percent of men and 67 percent of women developed chronic hepatitis.
Therefore, experts had called for more advanced tests than mere testing of liver condition.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
