Travellers warned on Hepatitis B

		Hepatitis B is now the world's most common, serious liver infection.

It's thought to be the leading cause of liver cancer, which, although extremely prevalent in Asia and Africa, is still relatively unusual in developed countries where it's often not immediately recognised and its symptoms are frequently attributed to more common, benign conditions such as flu or just generally feeling unwell.

Since the World Health Organisation now estimates that one in three of the world's population, a staggering 400 million people, are currently infected by Hepatitis B, travellers, particularly those visiting high risk areas of tropical Africa, South America, South East Asia, parts of China and the Pacific Basin, need to be extremely aware of this potential threat to their health.

The Hepatitis B virus is passed from one person to another through blood or bodily fluids, including tears and urine. Few people realise how virulent the virus is, 100 times more infectious than HIV with the ability to survive, even in dried blood, for up to a week.

Not all infected people show any symptoms of infection and nine out of ten people will eventually clear the virus and recover without any medical intervention. But another 5-10% become chronic Hepatitis B carriers. With the virus steadily attacking the liver, it can lead to inflammation of the liver, and eventually to cirrhosis and possibly cancer, a situation that the WHO now reckons is leading to more than one million deaths every year.

For travellers to high-risk regions, there is an extremely safe and effective vaccination, which, if administered before infection, will prevent the development of the disease and the carrier state in almost all individuals. However, no vaccination is 100% reliable and travellers whose lifestyles may put them at risk from blood-transmitted diseases need to take particular care. Anyone visiting or working for an extended period should be equipped with a sterile needle and suture kit to ensure protection if local medical treatment is needed or any dentistry.

Clearly, the long-term health solution for Hepatitis B is a programme of universal infant immunisation in the countries where it is so prevalent, but the cost of this sort of mass vaccination has remained a persistent barrier. So has the need to store the vaccines under refrigeration. However, in February this year, researchers in Buffalo, New York, raised the possibility that the humble spud could offer hope in eradicating this disease, by creating an edible vaccine in genetically modified potato. Tests showed immunity in 60% of the 42 people who tested the potato vaccine, paving the way literally to the creation of home grown remedies, perhaps the possibility that developing nations could cultivate their own potato vaccine plants and so immunise their children.