"One of his patients was 17 years old when he first examined her for stomach pain. McMahon discovered she had developed liver cancer caused by hepatitis B, just weeks before she was set to graduate from high school as valedictorian. She died before the ceremony. McMahon thinks often of an 8-year-old boy who showed no signs of illness until he complained of pain from what turned out to be a rapidly growing tumor on his liver."
"A birth dose of the vaccine, recommended for newborns since 1991, is up to 90% effective in preventing infection from the mother if given in the first 24 hours of life. If babies receive all three doses, 98% of them have immunity from the incurable virus, with the protection lasting at least 30 years. In the communities of western Alaska, years of targeted testing and widespread vaccination efforts led to the number of cases plummeting."
Brian McMahon, a liver specialist working at a tribal-owned hospital in Anchorage, treated many hepatitis B patients before a vaccine became available in the 1980s and witnessed rapid deaths among young people in western Alaskan communities. He recalls a 17-year-old valedictorian and an 8-year-old boy who died from liver tumors. Hepatitis B spreads through blood and bodily fluids and can survive on surfaces for a week. Infection at birth or early childhood is common but preventable. A birth dose within 24 hours is up to 90% effective; three doses confer 98% immunity lasting at least 30 years. Targeted testing and vaccination sharply reduced cases and childhood liver cancer.
Read at www.npr.org
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