Taiwanese have misconceptions about liver diseases: foundation 2011/08/13 Taipei, Aug. 13 (CNA) Many Taiwanese have misconceptions about liver diseases, often confusing a common local term with acute liver failure, the Liver Disease Prevention & Treatment Research Foundation said Saturday, citing the results of a recent survey. Only 54 percent of the 20,586 respondents who participated in the prize-drawing survey sent in correct answers to all six general knowledge questions on liver disease, according to the foundation. A total of 30 percent of respondents failed to answer a question on the definition of "baogan," which in Chinese medicine terms means the loss of balance in the body's automatic nervous system due to overwork and the lack of rest. "Baogan," which literally translates as "liver explosion," is often confused with acute liver failure, or fulminating hepatitis. But Hsu Chin-chuan, CEO of the foundation, stressed that they are two different things. The survey also showed that many people think that consuming health food products is the right way to maintain liver health. Noting that Taiwanese people like to eat health food products or take pills that claim to cure liver diseases, Hsu warned carriers of the hepatitis B or C virus to stay away from these products. Other questions in the survey included ways of treating liver cancer and hepatitis B, and knowledge of liver cirrhosis. "Chronic liver disease and liver cirrhosis" was number eight on the list of the top 10 causes of death in Taiwan last year.
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