The Frequency of Hepatitis Seen in Dialysis Patients Is Decreasing

Precautions must be taken to prevent infections!

Although hepatitis is a problem of general interest, it is of particular importance for dialysis patients. The results of the studies conducted on this subject make me smile. Yeditepe University Hospital Internal Medicine and Nephrology Specialist Prof. Dr. Gülçin Kantarcı point out that the frequency of diseases such as hepatitis has gradually decreased in recent years with the widespread use of infection control measures in dialysis.

Precaution Against Infections is A Must!

Renal failure remains an important problem in Türkiye as well as in the world. Nearly 80 percent of the approximately 75 million people who struggle with this disease also have to undergo dialysis to survive. Yeditepe University Specialized Hospital Internal Medicine and Nephrology Specialist Prof. Dr. Gülçin Kantarcı reminds us that dialysis patients are at higher risk for hepatitis infection than other segments of society. Therefore, this group indicates that infection control is much more important in patients. The good news is that thanks to the widespread use of universal infection control measures in Türkiye, the prevalence of hepatitis, which is an important problem for dialysis patients, is gradually decreasing.

These should be done to reduce the frequency of infection!

By separating the rooms and machines of dialysis patients who are hepatitis B carriers, the risk of hepatitis B infection in other hemodialysis patients can be reduced. The prevalence of hepatitis B, which was around 20 percent in the 1990s, appears to have decreased to about 4 percent in recent data.

Prof. Dr. Gülçin Kantarcı lists the steps to be taken to prevent blood-borne infections in dialysis as follows:

• Wear disposable gloves during patient care and when handling dialysis equipment.
• Gloves should be removed, and hands washed when switching from one patient to another and leaving the dialysis area.
• The dialysis device, chair, bed, table, etc. used by the patient during the dialysis process should be cleaned and disinfected after every patient.
• The needles should be thrown into closed, unbreakable boxes.
• The materials used should be wrapped well when being removed from the dialysis station and transported in a waterproof box.

Effective treatment of hepatitis B-carrying patients with newly used drugs reduces both the frequency of infection and the incidence of cirrhosis due to hepatitis B.

The Hepatitis-C Rate Has Also Fallen

Hepatitis C infection, which causes both acute hepatitis and chronic hepatitis and may also lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer in some patients, is also common in hemodialysis patients compared to the general population. Nephrology Specialist Prof. Dr. Gülçin Kantarcı said, "In recent years, the infection rate in this group of patients could be reduced from 55 percent to 5 percent. In addition, advances in medical treatment have reduced the risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer in patients with hepatitis C infection."