The other killer

By C.H., R.L.W., J.S. and D.H.

Hepatitis kills more people than HIV in most countries

HIV/AIDS may be the world's best-known virus, the subject of marches, concerts and billions of dollars of aid. With good reason: it killed 1.47m people in 2010. Less noticed, however, is viral hepatitis: it felled 1.44m globally–almost as many as HIV. And viral hepatitis killed more people in 117 of the 187 countries tracked by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington–including in India, China, Britain and Japan. The map below shows where one disease kills more than the other, distinguished by high and low ratios (determined informally by where initial high ratios begin to taper off). Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, usually spurred by one of five main viruses. Types A and E are transmitted through contaminated water and food. Types B, C and D are delivered through infected blood (such as dirty syringes) or in the case of B, from intercourse or from mother to child during birth. Hepatitis B and C, in particular, can be blamed for liver cirrhosis and cancer. July 28th is World Hepatitis Day. In a report to mark the event, the World Health Organisation lamented that many governments all but ignore the disease.