Andrew Hsu / Patrick Hsu
Hepatitis B:
The Silent Killer
WCO's World Children Hepatitis B Vaccination Project
Can you guess your body’s largest internal organ? It’s your liver, which is located in your upper abdomen behind your ribcage. An adult liver weighs around 3 pounds. This glossy, dark red organ receives over 25% of the blood pumped from your heart. It has very important biological functions: the liver stores and metabolizes the nutrients you need, synthesizes proteins for blood clotting, and detoxifies your bloodstream. All these are crucial to your survival.
The Hepatitis B virus (HBV), the 10th leading cause of death worldwide, is one of your body’s greatest enemies. It attacks your liver and causes gradual inflammation, hardening, and scarring. This can lead to liver cancer and death. Liver cancer is one of the five deadliest cancers we know of and 80% of primary liver cancer cases are caused by Hepatitis B. Worse, the Hepatitis B virus is a very infectious and resilient virus. Capable of developing into a lifelong chronic infection, HBV is 50-100 times more infectious than the AIDS virus - HIV. Over 350 million people worldwide are affected by chronic hepatitis B and up to 1.25 million die annually from diseases caused by the infection. An estimated 25% of chronically infected patients will eventually die from HBV-related diseases.
15 year old Ting was the top student in her class. Last month, her bright future went up in smoke when she died of a Hepatitis B-related disease. If she had received a timely immunization, her life would have been saved。
According to the World Health Organization, HBV is highly prevalent in Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, parts of South America, and Eastern Europe. Between 70% and 90% of the populations in parts of these areas have been infected by HBV before age 40; around 10% are chronically infected. The infection rates are much lower (less than 1% of the total population) in North America, Western and Northern Europe, Australia, and other developed countries. This is because a hepatitis B vaccine has been available and consistently administered in these countries since 1982, although HBV infection rates are still very high within certain ethnic groups such as Asians and Pacific Islanders.
The virus is transmitted in several main ways: from an infected mother to her baby; through contaminated needles, such as for drug injections, blood transfusions, or tattoos; by contact with the open wounds of an HBV carrier; through sharing personal care items such as toothbrushes or razors; via unprotected sex. HBV is not transferred through kissing, hugging, handshaking; sharing food, water, utensils; breast feeding; or coughing and sneezing.
Hepatitis B in China
In countries such as China, 40-50% of HBV infections are caused by “vertical” transmission from mother to child and another 40-50% is due to “horizontal” transmission during childhood and adolescence through exchange of bodily fluids. The remaining 10% or so can be attributed to adult infections. 90% of infants infected in the first year of life will develop chronic hepatitis B, while children between ages 1-4 have a 30-50% chance.
Many mothers who transmit their infection to their newborns are completely unaware that they have HBV because over 30% of chronically infected patients exhibit no symptoms. Those who do generally show flu-like symptoms that are easily mistaken for other diseases. These can range from fatigue and stomachaches to vomiting and nausea. The easiest way to find out is through a simple blood test.
