Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, College of Health Sciences, Benue State University PMB 102119 Makurdi, Nigeria.

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Faculty of Science, Benue state University PMB 102119 Makurdi, Nigeria

Department of Anatomical Pathology, College of Health Sciences, Bemue State University PMB 102119 Makurdi, Nigeria
Earth , Disease Burden ,Viral Hepatitis ,

Hepatitis viruses though discovered at different times of human existence have continued to increasingly infect a large number of human populations in the midst of different control measures put in place to contain the disease. This study was set up to review the origin of the viruses to the present global distribution of the disease in general and that of Nigeria in particular. The study was based on literature search on viral hepatitis over the past century (1913-2012). Research works on epidemiology of viral hepatitis from original articles, letters, short communications and reports on viral hepatitis in humans from medical websites such as: Open J-Gate, Science Central, eJManager, Journal TOCs, ResearchBib, ScieLo, Google scholar, NCBI, MLS, PubMed, African Journals Online (AJOL), PMC International, Open access Subset, E utilities, NLM LiitArch, Science Direct, and PMC citation Search were carried. Data obtained was analysed using simple descriptive methods. Of the 7.04 billion people worldwide, 80.2% (5.613 billion), 10.3% (711.173 million), 2.3% (157.879 million), 0.21% (15.026 million) and 35.9% (2.511 billion) of the people were respectively infected with Hepatitis A, B, C, D and E viruses with Africa and Asia contributing over 60% of the global viral hepatitis burden. In Nigeria 95% (153.90 million), 12.0% (19.44 million), 7.6% (12.312 million), 1.4% (874,000), and 27% (44.01 million) of her 163 million people are respectively infected with Hepatitis A, B, C, D and E. Viral hepatitis is a global epidemic that cuts across all continents of the world. The present control measures should be reviewed, revived and strengthened to avert the possibility of this disease conquering the entire universe in no distant future.

6 , 2 , 2016