Calls for Hong Kong to offer hepatitis B screening to specific age groups in bid to eliminate viral infection
- Screening may help to identify patients with condition that may not necessarily present symptoms, professor says
- Hepatitis B is a chronic disease and if left untreated, there is a higher chance for patient to develop cirrhosis and liver cancer, he says
Hong Kong should offer population-based hepatitis B screening to specific age groups and make testing more accessible to contribute to international efforts to eliminate the viral infection, medical experts have urged.
Local health authorities have commissioned academics to look into the economic evaluation of various population-based hepatitis B screening strategies to help formulate better plans to tackle a disease that may be eliminated eventually.
Similar arrangements should also be given to Hong Kong residents born in mainland China in and before 2002, when free hepatitis B vaccines were offered to all babies.
He said screening could help identify patients with a condition that might not necessarily present symptoms and offer timely intervention.
“All hepatitis B carriers should be followed up by a doctor, who can either be a specialist or a primary care doctor,” Seto said.
