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Hepatitis B is a common and silent disease that can affect anyone. Some 2 billion people (including 4 to 5 million French people) have, at one time or another during their lives, been contaminated with the virus that causes hepatitis B. That’s one out of every three human beings!
Screening is the only way to diagnose the presence and the activity of the virus in the body. Therefore, we recommend being tested at least once in your life, and not only those people who are at risk...
In most cases, the person contaminated with the hepatitis B virus is able to get rid of it after a few weeks. He or she will then be naturally immunised and is no longer at risk. If the test is positive, he or she will join the ranks of the 400 million chronic carriers of the hepatitis B virus.
Not all of these chronic carriers are really sick. But some of them could develop a serious disease: every year, the hepatitis B virus kills one million people in the world, and people who are unaware that they have the disease could contaminate the people around them… hence the crucial importance of testing for infected people and of prevention.
These dangers must be known in order to understand what is at stake in the struggle against hepatitis B, but it should also be known that there are now ways to protect oneself. Hepatitis B can be prevented effectively through vaccination. And when it is not prevented soon enough, it can be treated. May this guide contribute to getting the message of hope across: the world now possesses the means to stop the progression of this virus.
CONTENTS
-A silent disease, but one that can be serious
-Chronic Hepatitis B
-What is cirrhosis?
-Why and how to get tested
-How to prevent hepatitis B
-We can treat hepatitis B
-Living with chronic hepatitis B
-Annexes