An estimated 41 million people in China have contracted the hepatitis C virus, which could become a fatal "quiet epidemic," according to Professor Xu Daozheng, a liver disease expert with Ditan Hospital in Beijing.

The Chinese Ministry of Health said in a report, issued in February, the number of hepatitis C patient was growing. A national epidemiological survey covering the 1992-1995 period found 3.2 percent of the country's population, or 38 million people, had hepatitis C virus.

Prof. Xu said his estimate is quite conservative, and suggested the disease should be included in normal medical checks, like hepatitis B, because it has become a serious public health issue in China.

At present, a patient with hepatitis C may look normal and feel just as good as a healthy person, and the disease will not be detected until it is too late, the professor warned.

Unlike other types of hepatitis B, 75 percent of people with hepatitis C show no signs of symptoms in the early stage, said Xu.

About 15 percent of the people with hepatitis C will develop hepatocirrhosis and 5 percent would develop cancer if the disease is detected in a later stage, the expert explained.

There is still no vaccine against hepatitis C in China, and the China Medical Association has called for screening the disease in normal blood tests, especially among high-risk groups.

China has about 20 million people with chronic viral liver diseases out of its 1.3 billion population, and half of the 280,000 patients of liver disease died of liver cancer.

(Xinhua News Agency June 26, 2004)