By Katie Wylie - The Press Photo Stacy Squires
A Christchurch man who fought back from a "downward spiral of apathy" to beat hepatitis C is urging those at risk to get tested for the virus.
Bill Jang, manager of Christchurch's Hepatitis C Resource Centre, is speaking out about his battle with the virus. World Hepatitis Day is today. He was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1996, aged 41.
The virus - which is thought to affect 4000 Cantabrians and 50,000 people nationwide - is transmitted through blood-to-blood contact and causes inflammation of the liver.
Jang traces his infection to drug use in 1970, although he has since had tattoos and a blood transfusion, both of which can spread the virus. "I spent a lot of time in denial, which quite a few people do," Jang said. He had no symptoms until his 40s, when he became extremely tired. "It was almost like a ... downward spiral of apathy."
Tests revealed stage four fibrosis of the liver. Five years later, he was put on drugs which killed the virus and reversed the liver damage.
Associate Professor Edward Gane, of the New Zealand Liver Transplant Unit, said early testing for people who were at risk was essential.
"Just because you have no symptoms of the disease does not mean you are in the clear. Some people are diagnosed only following the development of liver failure or liver cancer, when treatment is not possible and survival is often only weeks.''
A weekend event in Cathedral Square, at which Kiwi band The Chills played, also helped raised awareness. The Chills' founder, Martin Phillipps, contracted hepatitis C 10 years ago.
