I was diagnosed with hepatitis B during my teens. I have been lucky enough to avoid such life changing impacts, but still feel pangs of existential dread every 6 months when my blood results are due. What if this is the last time I know I am cancer-free?
Silent but Deadly
Whenever I mention hep B I am generally met with blank looks or the age-old question: “Is that the bad one?”
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Given that hep B is the leading cause of liver cancer, this is a genuine worry. All hepatitis viruses infect the liver and all can kill by causing liver damage. However, these are completely unrelated viruses, that are named just by the order in which they were discovered.
Depending on which virus causes the condition, viral hepatitis can be transmitted through blood-to-blood contact (hep B, hep C, and hep D) or contaminated food/drink (hep A or E).
The lack of public awareness of hep B translates into tragic statistics in our health response: ~75% of Australians with hep B who should be undergoing monitoring are not, leading to untreated liver damage and missed liver cancer diagnoses. Increasing the number of people being monitoring is one of the biggest challenges
