Hepatitis C in Poland...please help.

All Europe?
or certain area's?

Us Europeans should be dying all over the place! Funny thing is, in Poland if you are to be admitted to hospital, it is quite the practice to get Hep injections beforehand (or you might not get admitted), when you are pregnant, you get tested at least once for Hep (also for STDs and HIV), etc. If 90% of the population carried Hep C around, we should all be dying of terrible liver-related ailments, should we not? It's statistics, plain and simple. Why do I know nobody with Hep A, B, C, or D (if there is one?) And I can tell you, Polish people get a LOT more blood tests done during their lifetime than the British, for example. And the results are usually back the next day, if not later on the same day (very complicated tests excluding).
This might be unfortunately changing now, due to the new "Americanized" health care strategies being introduced, but for example my generation got tested for contagious diseases from nursery to university - repeatedly. TB screenings and shots were one of sources of misery in my youth ;-)
Plus of course we get immunized for exactly the same diseases you do.
I might sound offended, maybe it's because I am. :->

First of all, I doubt there is any more cases of Hep c in Poland than the USA
Second of all, I see no problem with getting medical treatment in Poland?

Sorry, I misread the original post, it's 90% of those sick who are undiagnosed. I'm OK with that, still not OK with the "spreading like crazy" statement, as less than 2% (around 1.4% actually) of the Polish population are carriers (checked on the net). I stand by the rest of my post as well.
Thank you.

lordy lordy - is it a third world country or something?

In Britain the government has recently financed a series of advertisements to draw peoples attention to the possibility of Hep C because the vast majority go undiagnosed BUT most routine blood tests reveal the condition.

I have a friend who caught it by travelling on the same train as a Slovakian
Comments please.

ive heard that holding your breath when in the company of foreigners can protect you from all sorts of nasties. worth a try?

It only works with white foreigners. Blacks./Asians have a more aggressive strain and don't even mention the orientals!
Remember Bird flu/ SARS!

what's the difference between Asians and Orientals? The Orient = Asia AFAIK.

silly thats what gas mask were created for!

Although it is technically incorrect Asians refers to Indo-Iranian groups whilst orientals refers to Mongoloid/Far Eastern races.
The majority of Brits understand this same distinction.
I know the orient starts as soon as you cross the Bosphorus into Turkey.
'AFAIK'???

As Far As I Know ;-)

You sound like a type who puts paper on the toilet seat before doing seconds fearing you may catch aids.

I think you have missed BubbaWoo's subtle irony.
We'll contact the site admin about the possibility of drum rolls or canned laughter, similar to television sit-coms, so you'll never have to worry about missing the point of a comment completely again.

arrh. let BubbaWoo respond, are you his spokesman?

I'm not defending BubbaWoo so much as enjoying pointing out your stupidity.
I'll do it again.

Guest. Your stupid.

That felt good.

actually i stand on the seat and dump from a hight

duh

To the person who said you get a shot upon admission to a Polish hospital, to prevent transmission of Hep C:

I think you are confused, according to WHO and the CDC, there is no available vaccine to prevent this disease. You might be thinking of the Hep A and B vaccines or shots. They do nothing to prevent Hep C.

Hep A and B are widespread here, too, but if they are giving shots for that, it makes no sense that they'd give them at the time of a hospital admission--the shots won't take effect soon enough to protect the person while in hospital and won't be effective until they leave the hospital in most cases--which is after they've already been exposed to other Hep A and B carriers. Kind of like closing the barn door AFTER the horse runs away.

Or maybe you're thinking of the shots they give to try and cure Hep C, which show some limited success over a long period, in some limited groups of people. Again, why would they be gicving the shots to every person admitted--unless every person who is admitted to hospital here shows sign signs of the antibodies to Hep C--meaning they have been exposed to it already? Being exposed does not equal/mean the person has the disease and must be treated.

To the person who wondered if all of Europe has the same rate as that of the US, or if Europe and Poland have the same rate:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17956043?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezS ystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed _Discovery_RA&linkpos=4

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs164/en/

To the person who asked where I got my figures on how people in Poland got the disease or about how I got the "90% with Hep C" go undetected:

http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/abstract_en.asp?v=12&f=141

http://www.mtbeurope.info/news/2007/710001.htm


To the person who wanted to know if I was taking a crack at Poland and associating it with a third world country:

No. I live here, my family lives here. For the most part (having lived and worked outside of Poland, so we have a basis of comparison) we feel it is a great place to live and work.

But if the roads are not yet up to standard (they are not) and the incidence of death by traffic accident is higher here than elsewhere (it is), why would I not educate myself about that and tell people here that info, so they know to be careful?

If sterilization procedures are not up to standard in most medical facilities here (they are not) and the incidence of transmission of Hep C (and TB, etc) is more likely here than at home (it is), why would I put my life at risk to avoid sounding "American" about the issue? Why would I not warn people--both Poles and non-Poles--so they know about it too, and can be careful?

I am simply going to do anything I can to avoid getting it. So should you.

This isn't a cold we're talking about, but a deadly diagnosis, for which there is no cure, nor affordable treatment. The treatment itself often puts people at risk.

Why all the hate directed toward some of the people here who care about their health and that of their kids, who try to avoid getting sick whenever they can, and who are trying to help Poles and non-Poles alike?

Is it Western or American to care about people other than oneself? Is it unpatriotic to acknowledge a problem that affects one's own people, learn about it and then take steps to prevent something that might actually kill you? Is it non-Polish to tell the truth, about something so basic as health care and medical needs?

I don't get this attitude, or the unfunny jokes, at all. It must be because I am an American.

You may want to tell me why the United States rates No 37 when it comes to Quality and Fairness in Health Care and why 47 million people are not covered by health insurance?
Lets not get too excited about how good the Americans are, at least in Poland all people have access to free medical care.

And how have you found that out? I am sorry to say I do find your tone patronizing. I was shocked to learn that a number of clinics in Vegas (?) were recently caught re-using syringes (!!!) and may have infected untold numbers of patients over quite a period of time.
Every time I get a shot in Poland or have blood taken for tests, the nurse puts fresh gloves on, opens the syringe and needle pack in front of me, and after use throws them away immediately. Nurses and doctors also wash their hands a lot oftener in Poland than I have ever seen in the UK, where I am now a community interpreter and visit hospitals on a daily basis. I have even been admitted into the ICU in a London hospital wearing my germ-infested clothes and shoes, straight from the street! :-( I have also accessed wards including the delivery ward without being told to as much as wash my hands!!! Say what you will, but this would be unthinkable in a Polish hospital. You can't really compare because you'd never even enter one, would you? Why do Polish hospitals smell of Lysol and other disinfectants, while British hospitals don't? Why is there a major MRSA crisis in the UK? This is all to say that comparison isn't always so rosy for so-called highly developed countries.

We also have free clinics in the US for those in need.

Yeah they exist...but the quality is horrible and they do not offer many services and are rarely "free".

To say this like it is so simple is very misleading.

The US medical system is a pay for service system and other than stabilizing you in an emergency they have no obligation to do anything else.

This is why the health insurance/medical business mess is such a problem. Millions of Americans do not have insurance and have no access to quality care.

I am sick of people that haven't been in the "system" acting like it is simple.

Hep C in

USA 1.8%
Poland 1.4%
UK 0.02%

http://www.pkids.org/pdf/phr/03-06hcvglobal.pdf


>Why is there a major MRSA crisis in the UK?

Is there or is there a new sudden reporting of it. US hospitals simply hide the statistics, in fact MSRA is far more common in the US due to the over abuse of antibiotics that has been going on for decades. Nation figures show that but individual hospitals in the US are miraculously clean.

I read a report a few years ago, over 8% of samples sent to US labs had anti-biotic resistant infections, in the UK it was about 4%. With those sort of figures you can clean all you like but the patients are already infected.

This brings new meaning to going out to splash the boots, you must tell people you are going out to stain the trousers..lol

How come ? Is your Bum THAT BIG ! Hahahahaha <just kidding lol, I fink ! >

why the interest in my bum...?

I once watched a documentary filmed in L.A. A man got shot and the cops had to arrest him in order to make him get medical attention.
He really wanted to avoid the county general because he had seen how much people were hounded for payment of bills they amassed whist under its 'care'.
Sometimes I'm glad to be English. We get ripped off in the car park, the prescription charge is a minor irritant and we sometimes have to wait half of the day in the reception area but we don't have to worry about pending bankrupcy over a health problem.