Medics use ARVs to treat hepatitis B - Medical personnel in Adjumani District have resorted to a desperate Plan B to treat Hepatitis B after recommended drugs ran out of supply. They are now using Anti-Retrovirals (ARVs), which combinations are meant for HIV treatment.

Officials confirmed that ARVs can also be used to treat Hepatitis B disease. Adjumani Hospital acting Medical Superintendent, Dr Dominic Drametu, told Daily Monitor yesterday that they are using drugs such lamivudine and tenofovia for treating Hepatitis B.

"Unfortunately, these drugs are meant for treating HIV but many times when there is shortage, we use these drugs to treat Hepatitis B patients. It has helped," Dr Drametu said. But there is worry that if Hepatitis B drugs are not procured, there will be shortage of ARVs for HIV/Aids patients too. Hepatitis B vaccine is expensive. A dose of three shots costs about Shs90,000, medics say.

In the last three years, the hospital has treated about 90 cases with eight deaths. And on average, the hospital handles one or two cases of Hepatitis B every month. The disease is transmitted in much the same way as HIV but it is 10 times more infectious than HIV and the virus is also resilient.

Martin Okudi & Felix Warom Okello

The Monitor/20/09/2011