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Message from Your Editor A Very Happy & Healthy New Year to you all! With this issue, we start our treatise on hepatitis B (hep B). Hep B is a viral disease of the liver. Like HIV, it is transmitted through the exchange of body fluids such as blood or semen. The virus attacks the liver (which removes toxins from the body) and can lead to scarring (cirrhosis), cancer or organ failure which can lead to death. The incidence of hep B in Asia, including China, is particularly high. In the U.S. about 8 people die everyday from the illness. In China, hep B kills about 808 people daily, making it one of the most neglected public health threats in the world. Many people chronically infected with the virus do not even know about it. The virus can lie dormant for years, and then, suddenly, it erupts, causing devastating health consequences. “When it first flared up, I felt like I would rather die than live with the disease,” said one patient. Unlike AIDS, which received a lot of attention and prompted much educational efforts, people are not as educated about hepatitis B and are therefore not aware of the dire implications of the disease. Compared to AIDS, about 650,000 people in China had HIV in 2005 but one in every 200 people there had hepatitis B (according to the World Health Organization) and the disease kills about 25% of those infected! Many people infected with the hep B virus are afraid to get tested or seek treatment because the disease, like AIDS, carries a social stigma. The discrimination of hep B patients has been widely publicized in China. This is largely the result of lack of knowledge of the disease rather than indifference or callousness. The good news is, there is an effective vaccine to prevent hepatitis B & there are medications which can successfully treat the condition. Please join us in our effort to promote hepatitis B awareness. We urge you to read our comprehensive report (spanning 3 issues) on hep B and share the knowledge with your family, friends & colleagues. Lives can be saved & suffering alleviated! In health, M.K.
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