Tag: Hepatitis B

Why the Hepatitis B Birth Dose Matters

Hepatitis B vaccination within the first 24 hours has been part of Australia’s National Immunisation Program for 25 years, helping to reduce hepatitis B in the Australian population.
Pages of clinicians and researchers statement showing names and logos

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 …

Wait! There’s more…

Hepatitis is not often seen as a health issue for children – but as shown in Community News #107, children can be at risk of hepatitis or hepatitis-related health issues …

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, …

Spreading the Word about Hepatitis B and D

Adrian Hicks wants to shout out to the world: If you have hepatitis B, don’t ignore it… do something, your life may depend on it! Adrian lives with not one …

In Our Library: October 2025 Highlights

HepSA Library October acquisition highlights: HBV surveillance, managing hep B, hep D advances, and more…

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 …

Pig-to-Human Liver Transplant Shows Mixed Success

Part of a liver from a genetically engineered pig has been transplanted into a living human recipient, who then survived a further six months before dying from repeated upper gastrointestinal …

While We Wait for a Hepatitis B Cure – Screen More, Treat More, Treat Earlier

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is notoriously hard to get rid of. The virus embeds its covalently closed circular DNA (the cccDNA) in the liver, integrating itself into the host …

My Health Record: BBV results now recorded by default

Recent changes to the processing of pathology reports for My Health Record has elevated the importance of pre-test counselling...

Birth-Dose Vaccination Crucial to Prevention of Chronic Hepatitis B in Children

Hepatitis Australia and ASHM have released a statement reminding all Australians of the importance of hepatitis B vaccinations to protect the health and wellbeing of children. The statement pointed out …

Hepatitis B and C: A call to action for nurses and midwives

By Mieken Grant, originally published in the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Journal, and reprinted with permission. In Australia, just under 300,000 people live with chronic hepatitis B or hepatitis C, …

Cutting Out Hep B with ‘Molecular Scissors’

A genetic peculiarity that is sometimes found in biochemistry is ‘covalently closed circular DNA‘ (cccDNA), where the DNA molecule, instead of being a long, ribbon-like strand, becomes a closed loop. …

How Hep B Research Helped when COVID-19 Hit

As the coronavirus spread globally in 2020, and people all around the world began to be uncomfortably familiar with RAT tests and PCR tests, NSW historian Michelle Bootcov realised her …

Improving Surveillance of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Australia

The incidence of primary liver cancer in Australia has quadrupled since 1982—faster than any other cancer. Yet, the 5-year survival remains just 22%, in stark contrast to countries like Japan, …

SA Nurses Say Get Tested

Flinders Medical Centre hepatology nurses are urging people to get tested for viral hepatitis. Throwing their support behind Hepatitis SA’s World Hepatitis Day green T-shirts activity, the nurses have put …

In Our Library: Liver cancer and other hepatitis-related conditions

This World Hepatitis Day we are focussing on testing. Early detection of viral hepatitis is vital to prevent avoidable deaths, like those caused by liver cancer.  Hepatitis B increases liver cancer risk by …

World Hepatitis Day 2025 – It’s Time for Action: Testing Saves Lives

In Australia, there are two diseases which, together, kill nearly 1000 people every year. They affect close to 300,000 people and are also the leading causes of rising liver cancer …

Experimental Hep B Treatments: Good & Bad News

Two different experimental hepatitis B virus (HBV) treatments have shown very different results in their phase 2 trials in recent weeks. One, while initially promising, has failed to show high …

Transforming Hepatitis B Care: WHO Takes the Lead

Momentum is growing to simplify and expand treatment criteria so that more people with chronic hepatitis B will be treated.

Beating Cancer Through Hepatitis Elimination

Despite having all the tools to combat liver cancer, a lack of prioritisation and action has resulted in an increase in mortality worldwide. These deaths are entirely preventable if people …

In Our Library: Highlights, April 2025

New titles added in April include: Hepatitis B and hepatitis C mapping reports, Close the Gap campaign annual report, Human Rights and drug policy report...