Liver Diseases

[Oocyte]

I just heard another Somali who is suffering from Liver Failure. The past year and two there have been many Somalis who died from Liver diseases and/or their complications and God knows how many are unaware if they have it until its too late.

What do you all think of the main causes? Any suggestion(s) about preventions?

[SCORPION_SISTA]

Hey Libin I am been trying to get to posting a reply to this topic for couple of weeks now…My grandfather died of liver disease back in Somalia, as matter of fact, both of my grandfathers passed away due to Hepatitis C….Hope these information are beneficial, I don’t know though their extreme relative-ness to Somalia’s liver disease…Let me know if u have specific interest in a branch of these diseases…Hepatitis C virus (HCV) effects about 170 million people worldwide. And the usual forms of transmission is blood transfusion especially prior to 1990’s, sexual transmission methods, and the use of intravenous drugs…Most people though are infected by exposure to contaminated blood or blood products…It can become chronic but it is rare and in those cases it causes a liver failure (such the case in my grandfathers)…Some people may develop cirrhosis probably due to alcohol abuse (I assume not applicable in Somalia, but probably can be a cause in our generation now), and others develop end-stage liver disease as mentioned previously…Now another liver disease concern I feel is HBV which is endemic in parts of Asia…It has the same form of transmission methods but can also be transmitted from a mother to an infant in the prenatal period…In hepatitis B case, the chance of development into chronic hepatitis depends on age…Some symptoms such as loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fever, abdominal pain, and jaundice can be an indication factors…Fortunately this hepatitis B unlike HCV can be diagnosed easier because it has a serum HBeAg which has antibodies treatment available…Oh I got to go now, but let me know if u need anymore information…I know there are multiple liver diseases, but I tried to choose one in closeness to what I had seen…Of course our possibilities and chances of facing other liver diseases has increased now due to change in our lifestyle (more sexual activities/drugs) and diets (alcohol drinking) and etc…Also I think it’s very important to insure that whenever a person is getting blood transfusion to be sure that the blood they are receiving has been triple time checked if necessary...Even going to butcher areas and buying meat, it's very important to ask questions about the products and see how healthy the area looks and if there are a lot of blood around…I hope I helped in anyways…Bee bye.

[AYOUB]

I know a well-informed brother who believes the liver problems among Somalis was originally caused by eating food donated as aid from abroad and not by bad diet as popularly believed. He believes the food brought in from US in the 70s and 80s was deliberately infected (especially during the wars and droughts). I used to be sceptical about this, until I heard about Hungarian doctors who were caught in Libya infecting their pacients with the HIV virus. As Muslims we should accept what befalls on us but I firmly believe the source of the Liver problems is more sinister than what most people think. Libin i'll post more detail inshallah i hope some else will help you in the mean time.

[Oocyte]

Scorpion sista;

Thank you, you have pretty much covered most aspects of it. In fact My grandfather died of liver failure as well. My main concern is; "is it lately on the rise for some reason or did people suffer/die from it but no one was aware of it?"

Even though there will be, most likely, an increase of these diseases in our generations as you mentioned due to the life style many youngster chose to live but most of the people who suffered and died from it are older generation (parents/grandparents). One main thing which happens is lack of blood screening in Somalia! I was quite shocked when I found out in some places people donate blood for their relative who will receive the transfusion immediately without the screening. Lack of annual medical check up or screening is another contributing factor.

What about fatty diet (Subag iyo qaras bax) we like to eat? would it exacerbate already injured liver since the failing liver can hardly metabolise anything let alone high fat diet?

Any more input will be appreciated.

BTW HCV is easily diagnosed- it produces antibodies against the virus, the bad thing about it is 50% of infected people will become chronic carriers and will develop cirrhosis and it deosnt have vaccination unlike Hep B.

 

Ayoub_Sheikh,

Hepatitis A and E are the two viruses which are transmitted fecal-oral route (with infected food, water etc) and both of these which mainly infect the liver do not leave long time affect on this organ that could lead to failure or death. Another thing which is related to food and can cause to these problems is something called Aflatoxin- fungi found on crops- I dont know if its present in Somalia. If you have real data on this, please do post it.

[SCORPION_SISTA]

"My main concern is; "is it lately on the rise for some reason or did people suffer/die from it but no one was aware of it?"

 

I don't live around an area with large Somali population so i really don't know about statistics and what not...But one reason for supposdely the increase in liver diseases seen is due to the awarness of younger generations of Somali therefore forcing elder generations such as their parents to go for medical check-ups and what not...At times maybe older generation go to doctors for something else and when a full check- up is done or screening occurs they might find they are suffering from liver disease which they didn't know about...I do also believe(no scientific knowledge) that older generation are not as active as they had been back in Somalia...For example, many now choose to sit in cafes or homes to talk instead of how many people, my recollection, back in Somalia used to go for long walks around the areas after eating meals and what not...Another reason could be even though we are eating the same type of foods the ingredient or the level of fat or unsaturated fat is not the same...So our bodies might not react to it the same...Or we can't take the increased unhealthy food levels and metabolize...So probably people should not eat the same food as much as they do now, espically elder generations...That's all i could thing of as a cause for the rise in liver diseases...Hope i helped, bee bye.