Fighting against viral hepatitis: Lessons from Taiwan

Abstract

Viral hepatitis and its sequelae are important health problems worldwide, including Taiwan. For the last 40 years, Taiwan's scientists and health care providers have worked hard to control these sequelae, and the results have been excellent. The author, Ding-Shinn Chen, had a key role in planning and establishing the control program in Taiwan, and participated in the endeavors from the very beginning. In this perspective, he describes how he became interested in research as a medical student, his encounters with hepatitis B and C, how he and his colleagues started early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), how he helped Taiwan's government create and implement the Viral Hepatitis Control Program, and how the effectiveness of the program in the decrease of hepatitis B carriage and HCC was monitored. He also discusses how he pioneered the use of interferon-α plus ribavirin to treat chronic hepatitis C. Hepatitis B viral load as a risk factor for HCC and cirrhosis in hepatitis B surface antigen carriers is reviewed briefly, as is the prevention of sequelae by antiviral therapies. Finally, Dr. Chen discusses unresolved issues that must be addressed and predicts the changes of the patterns of liver disease in Taiwan beyond the mid-21st century, which is in part affected by the fight against viral hepatitis that was initiated in the early 1980s. Dr. Chen's perspective illustrates Taiwan's fight against viral hepatitis over the last 40 years. This experience can be shared by other countries in which the disease is equally prevalent.