PRESCRIPTIONS
Chronic hepatitis B can go undetected for years
By Landis Lum
Q. My friend from Cambodia needs to get liver tests every few months because he has hepatitis B, but he feels healthy. What's the scoop?
A. He may have been infected with the hepatitis B virus at childbirth from his mother or he may have come down with it as a toddler.
When you get hepatitis B at a young age, it often remains permanently in the body. This can lead to cirrhosis or even liver cancer in later life.
The trouble is that many people infected with hepatitis B feel healthy and don't even know they have it.
Chronic hepatitis B affects more than 300 million people worldwide. In the United States, about 0.5 percent of people are infected. On the other hand, in Southeast Asia, China and parts of South America, 8 to 15 percent are chronic carriers.
In Hawai'i, immigrants from these areas have this same high infection rate.
Dr. Naoki Tsai, director of the Liver Center at St. Francis Medical Center, has been trying to get the attention of our community and of these immigrants to get them screened, not only for drug treatment, but also to help prevent spread to family, friends and co-workers.
They may need blood tests every three to six months and liver ultrasounds every six to 12 months to help detect liver cancer, as the earlier you detect and treat it using radiofrequency destruction, surgery, or even liver transplantation, the longer you'll live.
Volunteering to help Tsai spread the word is ophthalmologist David Mai, who goes to clinics and groups to educate the staff and give them lab forms whereby immigrants, who are often uninsured, can get free blood tests at labs scattered throughout the state with the support of drug companies Roche, Gilead & Bristol-Meyers Squibb.
Physicians can contact the Liver Center, and immigrants can go to Wai'anae Coast, Kalihi-Palama or Waimanalo health clinics or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Liver Center at 2228 Liliha St., No. 306, Honolulu, HI 96817 for lab forms.
You get hepatitis B by direct contact with blood or bodily fluids, such as from unprotected sex with someone infected with hepatitis B, sharing needles with infected drug abusers, or getting a body part pierced or tattooed with unsterile equipment.
Certain people are at high risk for hepatitis B and should get the hepatitis B vaccine. These include healthcare workers, public safety workers who work with drug abusers, partners of infected people and gay men.
If you know an immigrant, show them this article — they may be harboring something they don't know they have.
Dr. Landis Lum is a family-practice physician for Kaiser Permanente and an associate clinical professor at the University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns School of Medicine.
Send your questions to Prescriptions, Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; fax 535-8170; or write islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com. This column is not intended to provide medical advice.
