Preventing cancer and hepatitis B

Attention new parents – as focus on the prevention, treatment and cure of cancer this month – we should think about the first step toward cancer prevention in a person’s life. This step is receiving the hepatitis B vaccine.

Hepatitis B is a virus that can cause severe illness from liver failure and can progress to long-term liver scarring, cancer and even death. The chance of chronic infection is higher for those who are exposed to it at a younger age. Nearly 90% of infants who are infected develop chronic infection.

While there is no cure for hepatitis B infection, there is a safe and effective vaccine series that infants receive starting immediately after birth to prevent infection. In fact, the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine should be given within the first day of life and can serve as the start of lifelong cancer prevention strategies.

Hepatitis B is the most common blood-borne infection in the world, and most individuals who are chronic carriers of the infection do not realize that they have it. The virus can be spread in several different ways, including from mother to baby during childbirth. Contracting the virus in childhood can increase the risk of developing in adulthood a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma at a rate of 100 to 300 times that of the uninfected population. In fact, nearly 25% of individuals infected with hepatitis B will develop hepatocellular carcinoma. This difficult-to-treat and potentially fatal cancer can be prevented with the universally recommended vaccine series.

Despite the promotion of universal screening for hepatitis B antigen in mothers prior to delivery, an estimated 25,000 infants are born annually to mothers diagnosed with hepatitis B.  Of these, nearly 1,000 infants will have hepatitis B transmitted to them. As many as 25% of those infants born with hepatitis B will die prematurely from causes related to the virus. Fortunately, early detection, treatment, and vaccination can help prevent infection.

Even among children born to mothers with confirmed negative hepatitis B antigen, it is still crucial to fully vaccinate infants against the virus. Many children who contract hepatitis B have it transmitted to them not from their mother during birth but rather from another family member or close contact. The virus can be transmitted by casual contact with blood-contaminated items of an infected person.

We can never be too careful when it comes to preventing a communicable and lifelong disease for our children – especially when a safe and effective vaccine is readily available.

Following the first vaccination, children will receive three more doses of the vaccine and, by six months of age, will have greater than 90% protection from ever contracting the disease throughout their lifetime. This is so important, as a variety of life circumstances and exposures to bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, vaginal fluids and semen carry a cumulative risk of hepatitis B transmission.

Interestingly, humans are the only significant reservoir of hepatitis B in the world. Through screening, prevention and vaccination, eradication of hepatitis B is possible.  During this month of cancer awareness, commit to taking the first step in protecting your child from cancer by having them vaccinated against hepatitis B.

By Dr. Michael Calhoun Wilkerson, medical resident at Baylor College of Medicine