How Lethal is Hepatitis B?

Does Hepatitis B always kill?

It is not uncommon for patients to go into a frenzy when they are informed about their hepatitis blood test results. Several persons make unwise decisions and or get severely depressed. The bottom line is the fact that there is no cure, at present for hepatitis B. However, several treatment regimes are available to treat this viral infection.

The goal of treatment is to manage the symptoms the patient presents with as well as reduce the risk of long-term health problems, such as scarring of the liver (cirrhosis) and liver cancer. If anyone has hepatitis B, and they are not eligible for treatment at the time of diagnosis, the advice is to get a blood test every 6 months to monitor the viral load and the health of the liver.

The question remains whether hepatitis B always lead to death. The answer to that question is an emphatic No! Clinical research has shown that when patients with chronic hepatitis B were followed up over a long time, the following were the outcomes:

  1. 1-3 out of 10 will develop scarring of the liver (cirrhosis)
  2. Of those that develop cirrhosis, only 1 out of 10 will develop liver cancer
  3. There are a few odd ones that go on to develop liver cancer without passing through the phase of cirrhosis. This is however, rarer than imagined.
  4. The chance of progression to all, explained above is when the infection occurred in early childhood.
  5. If an adult develops an acute infection, less than 1 out of 100 will progress to death. Most of adult acute infections will clear the virus from their system. About 2 out of 10 will go on to developing chronic infection.

With most infections occurring in childhood among African and East Asian populations, their is a higher chance to progress to chronic infection than encountered in Western populations. Even then, 80% of those with chronic infection present no symptoms. This is the most worrying bit; and unless some random blood test discovers the disease, the first time people know they have the infection is when they present with complications.

Our advice

  1. Go for a blood screening test, if you are at risk of hepatitis B
  2. Check your risk of liver disease, using simple tools, such as Liver Health App (available in google play store)
  3. Contact your nearest health centre for advice!

Comments

  1. Unknown27 November 2020 at 11:37

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  2. MATINA18 July 2021 at 15:04

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