Increasing awareness to combat hepatitis B

Understanding the problem is key to finding solutions. The 3rd Hepatitis B Summit held in Makati City recently was noteworthy because it enabled medical practitioners, healthcare providers, and the average laypersons to understand hepatitis B’s effects and the repercussions of the disease. The forum clarified various aspects about hepatitis B infection and did much to increase awareness about the need for vaccination against the virus. Statistics show that 12 to 15 percent of the Philippine population is chronically infected with hepatitis B.

It has been said many times that hepatitis B is a virus that is 100 times more contagious than the AIDS virus. Transmission is through unprotected sexual intercourse, blood transfusion, injection with contaminated needle, or by an infected pregnant mother to her child during childbirth. Unlike in AIDS where the immune system is weakened so that the entire body easily falls prey to a variety of infections, however, the target organ of the hepatitis B virus is the liver.

Is infection with hepatitis B tantamount to the kiss of death? The experts say: Not necessarily. Certain people have been known to recover completely from hepatitis B infection without need for medication, and develop antibodies to protect against future exposure to the virus besides. Unfortunately, however, these consist a minority. Not all people are able to recover; and some become chronic cases that become carriers — unsuspectingly passing on the virus to their various contacts and thereby aggravating the hepatitis B health problem. In chronic hepatitis B, the virus targets the liver and renders the person susceptible to cirrhosis and liver cancer.

"In the last 10 years, drugs that increase the immune resistance of the patient and drugs that suppress replication or multiplication of the hepatitis B virus have been developed," says Dr. Jose Sollano, professor of Medicine and immediate past president of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver. "The availability of these medicines bode well for recovery from hepatitis B infection. The downside, however, is that the medications are quite expensive."

According to Dr. Enrique Tayag, director of the National Epidemiology Center, "Vaccination is the most cost-effective intervention in preventing and controlling the consequences of hepatitis B infection."

For its part, the government is taking steps to prevent the further spread of infection. In her message at the forum, Senator Pia Cayetano said, "The Senate has recently approved on third reading Senate Bill 2012, which expands the reach of the national immunization program by requiring an immediate dose of hepatitis-B vaccine to all infants within 24 hours of birth. Efforts are ongoing to communicate with our colleagues in the House of Representatives, which has also passed its own version, to fast-track the bicameral approval of this measure, for it to be enacted into law soon."

In the Philippines, where a vast majority of our college students are studying Nursing, the statement of the president of the Hepatology Society of the Philippines is of particular significance. Dr. Erlinda Valdellon said, "Infection with the hepatitis B virus is a common occupational hazard in individuals working in health facilities, particularly those who handle blood. If the health-care workers are themselves infected, there is also a risk of transmitting the virus to others. It is recommended that doctors, lab personnel, dentists, midwives, nurses, and others should know their HBV status."

For all of us, hepatitis B awareness can spell the difference between staying healthy and being infected. Health professionals advise us to improve our quality of life by embracing the healthy lifestyle and eschewing potentially hazardous substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, and dangerous drugs. A simple hepatitis B vaccination will also lessen our anxieties about acquiring a preventable disease.