Hepatitis ‘kills more than AIDS and TB’

Deaths linked to hepatitis have surpassed those caused by Aids, TB and malaria, according to data from 183 countries. Viral hepatitis has become a leading cause of death and disability in the world, killing more people in a year than Aids, tuberculosis or malaria, a report has said. Deaths from infection, liver disease and cancer caused by viral hepatitis increased by 63 percent from 890,000 in 1990 to 1.45 million in 2013, according to a review of data collected in 183 countries. By comparison, in 2013 there were 1.3 million deaths from Aids, 1.4 million from tuberculosis, and 855,000 from malaria, said the report, published in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday. “Whereas deaths from many infectious diseases – such as TB and malaria – have dropped since 1990, viral hepatitis deaths have risen,” said study leader Graham Cooke, from Imperial College London’s medicine department. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, most often caused...