Around 18 million Vietnamese have contracted hepatitis and one-fifth of them have developed complication due to improper treatment, said Pham Hoang Phiet, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Liver and Gall Association.

These include patients of hepatitis B and C and the disease has spread at a speed 100 times faster than HIV, he told the audience at a seminar on the issue in HCMC on Saturday.

The event attracted more than 750 doctors and researchers from the Asia Pacific region to discuss improving detection and treatment of the liver inflammation disease.

The Asia Pacific region is considered a “hot spot” of hepatitis B and C. Ten percent of people in the region have contracted hepatitis B and two percent have hepatitis C.

Globally, around two billion, or on third of the population, have contracted hepatitis B, including between 350 million and 400 million have chronic hepatitis.

Between 20-40 percent of patients with chronic hepatitis suffer from dangerous complications, like liver cirrhosis, liver failure and cancer.

Hepatitis B is considered the tenth most fatal disease worldwide, with around one million dying annually to the disease.