DIRTY needles are causing an epidemic of liver disease in the developing
world. Up to 20 million people a year around the world contract hepatitis from
injections that are often unnecessary. This weekend, politicians and public
health officials will meet in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to discuss strategies
for fighting the epidemic.
Egypt is one of the world’s worst-hit nations. Eight million of its people
have hepatitis C. And of those who have advanced liver disease because of this
virus, nearly half can blame it on unsafe injections 20 or so years ago. “In
Egypt and other places such as…
