Experts Warn Federal Government Must Act On Hepatitis B

Experts Warn Federal Government Must Act on Hepatitis B

Embargoed until Tuesday October 21

Australia urgently needs a Federal Government funded national hepatitis B strategy to curb the flow of the virus and prevent up to 6,000 new cases across the country each year.

Leading health experts have sounded the alarm as two probing reports that outline the situation faced by up to 160,000 affected Australians are released at todays sixth Australasian Viral Hepatitis Conference in Brisbane.

"Hepatitis B affects tens of thousands of people in this country and it is one of the leading causes of liver cancer, said Professor Stephen Locarnini of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory.

"But, unlike hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS, there is currently no government endorsed
national strategy or support for people living with the virus.

"This is simply not good enough and we are calling for a strategy to be formed
encompassing public awareness campaigns, guidelines for testing and counselling,
community education, and strategies to increase treatment uptake.

"There's a perception that because we have an Australian vaccination program, we
can afford to relax on hepatitis B. Vaccination is effective for prevention, but we also need to focus our efforts on helping people already living with chronic hepatitis B," he said.

Dr Andrew Penman, CEO of Cancer Council NSW is concerned about the potential for
chronic hepatitis B cases to develop into liver cancer and is also calling for government action.

"If hepatitis B is left untreated, 25 per cent of chronically infected individuals will develop cirrhosis and 5 to 10 per cent will develop liver cancer.

"Hepatitis B is one of the leading causes of liver cancer and the longer we wait to for the Commonwealth Government to take action, the more Australians we expose to the risk of liver cancer. Many peoples health is at stake here and the government must step up to take urgent action," Dr Penman said.

In Australia hepatitis B is most prevalent among people born overseas in countries with high rates of chronic hepatitis B. Globally, 400 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis B and it is the tenth leading cause of death worldwide.

Media Contact: John Ratchford on 07 3308 3185 or 0411 150 352.

Notes to news editors

* 'All you wanted to know about hepatitis B', produced by the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine, in collaboration with the Cancer Council NSW, is a comprehensive resource for primary care health professionals managing the care of those with hepatitis B in Australia.

* The National Hepatitis B Needs Assessment, produced by the Advancing Clinical Treatment of the Hepatitis B Virus Initiative (ACT-HBV), examines the needs of people living with chronic hepatitis B, now and into the future. It identifies the needs of those affected by this disease and priorities for national action.



SOURCE: Australasian Viral Hepatitis Conference