(FWIW... my doc who is a very openminded guy says that Hep B is BY FAR the greatest risk health risk in the hobby... he's given me 3 full Hep B vaccination series over a two year period until I tested up to "full immunity" for Hep B. This is one foul disease that you no how, now way want to contract. End of sermon)

"Among east Asian immigrants in New York City, one person in seven carries the hepatitis B virus, a new study has found. The condition puts them at far greater risk than other Americans for deadly diseases like liver cancer and cirrhosis.


Graphic: Chronic Hepatitis B Infection Rate Among Asians in New York City Most of the people tested had no idea that they were infected, a fact that frustrates doctors who know that with proper screening and treatment, the disease can be controlled, if not cured. But three-quarters of the people in the study had no health insurance, and even those who did had trouble getting coverage for screening.

The study, led by researchers at New York University School of Medicine, found that 15 percent of east Asians in New York — as many as 100,000 people — are chronic hepatitis carriers, with the rate highest among immigrants from China. That infection rate is 35 times the rate found in the general population.

Because Hepatitis B is endemic in many Asian countries, growth in the number of Asian immigrants in New York and across the country has made the disease a broad, expensive, emerging health problem. In the 2000 census, there were 800,000 Asians in the city, with roughly half from China.

Hepatitis B, like hepatitis C, is generally contracted through the blood, and is not transmitted through casual contact with infected people. Hepatitis A, which is caused by a different virus, can be transmitted through food, but hepatitis B cannot, with very rare exceptions.

Since the development a generation ago of a vaccine that is given to nearly all children born in the United States and to many adults who are considered at risk, hepatitis B has become rare in this country. While doctors have long worried about the disease in immigrant groups who come from countries like China — which does not have a comprehensive national vaccination program — little has been done to raise awareness of the danger.

"The health care costs are enormous," said Dr. Henry J. Pollack, the lead author of the study, which is to be published late this week in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. "If you're giving what would be considered to be the proper care for all these people, it would be hundreds of millions of dollars."

People can carry the hepatitis B virus for decades without showing any signs of illness, until it causes life-threatening diseases like cancer or cirrhosis. "That often is the first sign of trouble," said Dr. Pollack, an associate professor at the medical school.

The New York State cancer registry shows rates of liver cancer among Asian-Americans 6 to 10 times as high as for whites, Dr. Pollack said, a difference that is mostly attributable to hepatitis B. And those figures may underestimate the disparity, because many immigrants who become sick return to their native countries.

Hepatitis B is prevalent in many poor countries, and there are an estimated 350 million cases worldwide. It is most common in China, but scientists do not understand why. In this country, hepatitis B is associated with transmission by sex and intravenous drug use. But in Asia, the disease most commonly passes from mothers who do not know they have it to their children in the womb. It may also be transmitted among children who have close physical contact."

in that I received my shots when I was teaching at an elementary school, so thank goodness for that.

Hugs,
Ciara

Is his name Stevie?

Thank You

thanks for the post, nice to see these types of things.  I am getting my first Hep A,B shot today!