How can Asia eradicate hepatitis B if most cases go undiagnosed?
- Most people infected with the serious liver infection caused by hepatitis B virus are unaware they have the disease, research suggests
- Early diagnosis and treatment with antiviral drugs can prevent its development into chronic liver disease
Retired South Korean salesman Min Kyeung-yun’s world turned upside down when he accompanied his wife to her health check-up – only to discover he had long been suffering from the chronic liver infection, hepatitis B, which had led to him developing liver cancer.
Min would discover that he and four of his siblings had been infected with hepatitis B at birth. “My mother had hepatitis B, but she didn’t know she had it,” he says. “So, out of the six siblings in my family, only my sister wasn’t infected. Two of my older brothers passed away in their 50s.”
My mother had hepatitis B, but she didn’t know she had it. So, out of the six siblings in my family, only my sister wasn’t infected. Two of my older brothers passed away in their 50s
The Asia-Pacific region, which is home to more than half of the global population, accounted for more than 62 per cent of worldwide deaths caused by liver disease in 2015. Chronic hepatitis B virus infection led to more than half of those deaths, the United States’ National Centre for Biotechnology Information reported.
Each year an estimated 140,000 people in the Western Pacific region, which includes parts of Asia, are infected with the virus, yet most cases go undiagnosed. A lack of awareness of hepatitis B is the primary reason, research shows.
A study by the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests only 10 per cent of individuals infected with hepatitis B, which is manageable with treatment, are aware that they have it – potentially putting millions of people at risk from life-threatening complications associated with the virus.
