“Increased consumption of fatty foods, addiction to alcohol, tobacco and qat, besides lack of cleanliness and poor hygiene in our daily life are other factors that contribute to the spread of liver diseases.”

Stressing the need for stepping up the fight against liver diseases in the Arab world, Sirag said there were lots of people with such complaints in the Middle East.

“We are still far away from overcoming the spread of liver infections, even though many other viral diseases have been brought under control with new vaccines and medications,” he said.

While hepatitis A and hepatitis B are often treated with a very high degree of success, hepatitis C, the treatments for which are often expensive, is not under control.

He feared that hepatitis C is increasingly prevalent in Arab countries including Egypt, Yemen, southern Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Morocco.

He added that while advanced countries have taken effective steps to control the disease, which does not involve any preventive medicines, most less developed countries do not have any plan to control this fatal disease.

The disease spreads through blood-to-blood contact only, while the more common hepatitis B has preventive vaccinations and spreads through blood and physical contact.

A doctor should determine the method of treatment of each patient after assessing the advancement of the disease in a patient, determine whether the Interferon treatment is appropriate as well as deciding the dosage and duration of medication.

If the presence of the virus is very high, the treatment will have to be continued for 72 weeks. Steps to strengthen immunity will also help in the patient’s treatment.

An experiment in California in the treatment of anemia found that higher doses of immunity strengthening medicine also helped patients with hepatitis C.

“Many people discover the presence of the hepatitis C virus accidentally and they rush to hospitals to get rid of the virus by any means,” Sirag said.

He added that the preventative measures are most effective in the case of hepatitis C.

That is why Sirag stressed the need for intensive campaigns to create awareness about the disease in Arab countries, where illiteracy also contributes considerably to its spread.

He said modern research has proved that an unhygienic environment and pollution were major factors that bred hepatitis.

Fibrosis and inflammation lead to dangerous liver conditions. While in some countries consumption of alcoholic drinks leads to liver cirrhosis, the addiction to Qat is a factor that causes serious liver diseases in countries such as Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The doctor denied any scientific basis for the treatment of liver diseases using herbal potions, camel urine, honey or Zamzam.

The liver expert also dismissed any possible success in the treatment of liver diseases using stem cells.

“The research with stem cells in the treatment of liver diseases at the Qasr Medical College did not yield any positive results,” he said.

The doctor recommended liver transplants for patients with spleen swelling or varicose veins.

Sirag appealed to charity societies to pay special attention to liver patients because treatments for hepatitis C and liver transplants are very costly.

Sirag added that hepatitis A could be treated with a 100 percent success rate, compared to 85 percent for hepatitis B, while this figure drops right down to 15 percent for hepatitis C.

He believed that if people quit the habit of chewing qat or drinking alcohol, hepatitis A and B could be easily treated. They should also avoid eating fatty foods, he said.

In the case of hepatitis C, the effects of the virus could be reduced to a great extent by adopting healthy eating habits. In the case of a pregnant woman with hepatitis C, it is safer to have a Caesarean surgery to protect the baby from the virus, he said.

Symptoms of acute hepatitis C include loss of appetite, weight loss, vomiting blood, swelling of the belly, intestinal sores, heart and brain problems.

When the liver totally fails, it damages the kidneys and the only treatment is kidney dialysis and a liver transplant, he said.