Childhood Hepatitis B risk high despite vaccine

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that is caused by a variety of infectious viruses and non-infectious agents leading to a range of health problems, some of which can be fatal. Dr Sarah Bonita Musoke a paediatrician at the Aga Khan Specialist Medical Centre says that in particular, types B and C lead to chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people and together are the most common cause of liver cirrhosis, liver cancer and viral hepatitis-related deaths. “In highly endemic areas, hepatitis B is most commonly spread from mother to child at birth or through horizontal transmission, especially from an infected child to an uninfected child during the first five years of life,” Dr Musoke says.