WHO announces efforts to fight 'hidden epidemic' of hepatitis

Ahead of World Hepatitis Day on July 28, the WHO "announced on Wednesday measures to fight the 'hidden epidemic' ... which kills more than one million people a year," Agence France-Presse reports. The virus "affects 500 million people worldwide but can go unnoticed for years and even decades," the news service reports (7/25). "'The vast majority of people infected with hepatitis are unaware, undiagnosed and untreated,' said Dr. Sylvie Briand, of the [WHO] Pandemic and Epidemic Disease Department. 'Only by increasing awareness of the different forms of hepatitis, and how they can be prevented and treated, can we take the first step towards full control of the disease and save thousands of lives,'" the U.N. News Centre notes (7/25).