Policies & Research

Can the hepatitis B virus’s genetic diversity predicts its curability?

Scientists at Melbourne’s Doherty Institute are asking, “What if there was a way to predict which patients are more likely to achieve functional cure of chronic hepatitis B virus infection?” …

How Hepatitis B Became a Political Football

The illness and the damage in lives that will come from abandoning the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine is hard to overstate.

Hepatitis D Basics

There are five main hepatitis viruses, helpfully named A, B, C, D and E. The hepatitis D virus (HDV)—sometimes known as hepatitis delta—is relatively little-known because it can only live …

Intertwined: Harm Reduction and BBV Prevention

Harm reduction and blood-borne virus prevention are inextricably linked. We can’t have the second without the first. To that end, Hepatitis SA – South Australia’s hepatitis peak body – has …

Closing the Gap in Practice

A widely-acclaimed community-led Northern Territory health program which closed the gap for hepatitis B is calling for ongoing support for screening, treatment pathways and workforce capacity building, so that hard-earned …

Could New Hepatitis B Drug – Bepirovirsen – Offer a Higher Functional Cure Rate?

At the start of January, pharmaceutical company GSK announced positive results from its two phase-III trials for bepirovirsen, a potential first-in-class treatment for chronic hepatitis B. They claim that bepirovirsen …

‘Shared decision-making’ for childhood vaccines sounds empowering – but it may mean less access for families already stretched thin

Shared decision-making is an approach doctors use when there’s genuinely more than one reasonable choice and the answer depends on what matters most and feels right to the patient.

Curing Hepatitis C Reduces Strain on the Immune System of HIV Patients

Fighting two infections at once puts an extra-heavy burden on the immune system. In Australia for example, a number of older people with haemophilia live with both hepatitis C and …
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Hepatitis Experts Welcome ATAGI Statement on Hepatitis B Birth Dose Vaccination

Australia’s hepatitis experts have welcomed a new statement from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) confirming the importance and safety of administering the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. Responding to …

Abandoning Hepatitis B Vaccines for Babies is Bad Science and Bad Medicine

Hepatitis Australia, ASHM and the Australian Technical Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) are urging Australians to maintain routine hepatitis B vaccinations for newborns following the alarming news that the advisory panel …

Community Leaders Share Concerns About Hepatitis B and the Law

Hepatitis B is Australia’s most prevalent blood-borne virus, with nearly 220,000 people estimated to be living with chronic infection. In a recent report called ‘If Hepatitis was 100 People’, Hepatitis …

Treating Fibrosis with Henna

Henna is natural dye, orange-red in colour, made from the powdered leaves of Lawsonia inermis and was being used in body art, and as a dye for hair, nails and …

A Single-Dose Cure for Hep B?

Hepatitis B remains a global public health problem, even in countries like Australia with universal childhood vaccination. For people who have been infected, and who now live with chronic hepatitis B, …

UK Shows the Power of Opt-Out Testing

Thousands of Britons have been found to have been living with previously undiagnosed hepatitis and HIV under a new testing system recently introduced in accident and emergency departments by the …