Tales of Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B, a viral infection of the liver, has its mixed bag of stories – some of them are good while others are tragic. Here are some lessons from a single family.

Happy tale 1: If diagnosed on time, you can keep your liver healthy, protecting it from damage.
Anoop, a 36 year old software engineer working with a multinational company who was diagnosed to have this infection 6 years ago during a blood screening drive, visited me last week. His recent blood reports were perfect: the liver functions were absolutely normal and his fibroscan showed that his liver was as soft and supple as any healthy person’s. He was of course on a daily oral tablet costing a mere Rs 800 per month, all these years, but there was no trace of any live virus in his blood. When he asked me how long he expected to live, I could not suppress a laugh. “As long as elderly people do in India” I answered.

Happy tale 2: You can prevent getting infected by a very effective and affordable vaccine.
His wife and child had tested negative for Hepatitis B on blood screening tests and Anoop, on the recommendation of a doctor, had get them to take 3 shots of the Hepatitis B vaccine. Their recent blood tests had shown high titres of protective antibodies. His face lit us when I told him that they were well protected for the rest of their lives from at least one potentially serious disease, ie Hepatitis B. And could he plan to have another child with the assurance that the infection will not spread to the new born? He had the green signal.
The earlier concern of high cost is now history. What used to cost Rs 500 for each shot now costs Rs 50 or less. It means you can get a life time of protection with three doses for as little as Rs 150!

Tragic tale : Although Anoop was happy with his reports and those of his wife and child, he still finds it impossible to erase the memories of his father’s illness and death. They had taken him to a hospital for swelling of feet, pain and distention of abdomen, where his blood tests and ultrasound had showed a shrunken cirrhotic liver with a large cancer in it. The cause, the doctor had explained, was Hepatitis B infection that had been going on for years, but had not been detected in time.
His end had been agonising: he had become bed-ridden, groaning with pain most of the time. He had required repeated admissions to hospital for tapping of fluid from the abdomen and infusion of expensive medicines. Towards the end, he would lapse intermittently into coma. Finally he had vomited of a large amount of blood, a spectacle that haunts the family to this date.

World Hepatitis Day, celebrated on 28th July, is round the corner. It is an occasion when hospitals and NGOs set up camps and offer free testing and vaccination for Hepatitis B. Get yourself and your loved ones tested and vaccinated this year.