World Hepatitis day and Hepatitis B virus

World Hepatitis day and Hepatitis B virus
Hepatitis B virus currently affect 350 million people worldwide. In Turkey, the most common route of transmission is mother to baby during birth but it may also be transmitted by sexual contact, IV drug usage or by blood products. It is still listed in the leading causes of liver cirrhosis. Fortunately, disease incidence is decreasing due to the national vaccination programme started in 1999 among the newborns. Hero of the world for this virus is Dr Baruch Blumberg who discovered the hepatitis B virus in 1967 and 2 years after he developed the vaccine against the virus. Certainly, there are other viruses such as hepatits C and D causing disease in liver. To raise the awareness towards those hepatitis virus and combat the disease, July 28th, the birthdate of Dr Blumberg has been recognized annually as World Hepatittis Day.