Team HBV at Harvard PSA on Hepatitis B

[bestozesto]

there is no use of getting tested. it has no effect on prognosis. if you are symptom free and are not vaccinated just get your protection, and even if you are positive for HBV,detection does not help at all when talking about asymptomatic patient because there is no cure for this disease and treatments available don't help rather your viruses will get more and more mutated and resistant to ultimately become refractory to any treatmnt.This campaign is just marketing of expensive useless medicines

[dantheman0820]

@bestozesto Yes, there is no cure for this disease, and yes, treatments for HBV -- or for any other disease -- CAN lead to more resistant strains within the individual. But despite such undeniable truths, consider this: Given the choice between doing nothing -- with the guarantee that your medical condition will worsen -- and getting appropriate treatment / screening -- with the modest possibility of alleviating liver damage and leading a normal life -- isn't the latter the obvious choice?

[dantheman0820]

@bestozesto In other words, you're absolutely right in acknowledging that solutions in life, our human attempts at solving the world's problems, DO come with possible drawbacks. But the possibility for an elevated quality of life is clearly present within these treatments and screenings. Denying this fact makes you look ignorant, but to preparative this same ignorance to others is pure selfishness.

[dantheman0820]

@bestozesto And one last note: HBV is most commonly transmitted through birth and through unprotected sex. If not for yourself, at least do it for those you love. Getting tested and KNOWING whether or not you have HBV can allow you to take preventive measures that will ensure your loved ones will not contract the disease from you. Please don't give into the same ignorance that has allowed HBV -- a disease WITH a vaccination -- to survive from generation to generation.

[bestozesto]

@dantheman0820 well as you read what i said earlier, i fully endors vaccination. My view was everybody should get vaccinated, and it is the only effective and reliable means of creating a barrier against disease transmission to the healthy non-carrier population, it wz how we fought small pox a viral disease.

say we have a population of 100 people out of which 10 are hep b carriers that are silent, now we can choose to vaccinate the whole population tht way we can protect the 90 healthy people

[bestozesto]

@dantheman0820 contd...so no selfishness as the vaccination of all is a barrier to transmission now that everyone else is safe by this protection i.e vaccination let's talk about those 10 who have the disease. No cure is available, the treatments approved do not alter the disease's natural history because of the reasons i mentioned earlier. preaching that everybody should get treated is wrong and selfish itself. for the new born carriers immunoglobulins and vaccination results in a CURE

[bestozesto]

@dantheman0820 contd...so the only useful screening is that of pregnant women,the rest remains a hype mostly vested that engulfs medics too. the vaccination schedule for new borns having hep b vaccination will generate populations with a barrier to hep b infection from those infected silently or diagnosed

[dantheman0820]

@bestozesto yes, treatment is NOT for everyone. i completely agree with that. but it should always be left open as an option. and the only way one can truly know whether or not treatment is necessary is through regular SCREENING of the liver (specifically, regular AFP and ALT tests.)

[dantheman0820]

@bestozesto cont...unlike small pox, hep b has no symptoms. so, no one -- including the patients themselves -- can tell the difference between the 10 carriers and the 90 that are protected. to ensure that they are indeed protected (and that they didn't have the disease to begin with), they need to get SCREENED.

[dantheman0820]

@bestozesto HBV is an STD -- capable of both vertical AND horizontal transmission. if you're so keen on ensuring that newborns don't get HBV, wouldn't you also like to make sure that it isn't transmitted between spouses and sexual partners? and while we're doing that, why don't we take it a step further and test everyone?

(a note to those reading: screening does NOT have to be an out-of-the-way kind of ordeal. you can simply ask your doctor about the test during your next regular check-up.)

[dantheman0820]

@bestozesto my bottom line: there's no harm in getting more information. in fact, it is the LACK of good information that has allowed the disease to be such a global epidemic. screening represents the first step towards building a more informed society, one that can effectively stamp out hepatitis b for good. i hope you can do your part -- and, really, a favor to yourself and to your loved ones -- in getting screened today.

[bestozesto]

@dantheman0820 vaccinated and one of them happens to be a carrier how would HBV still be transmitted?my bottom line: vaccinate everyone, and vaccinate neonates but please don't overtreat or overdiagnose your patients, avoid undue distress to those who have this infection as if they have something even worse than HIV only to make them an outcast. anyone with a little clinical acumen woludn't do that.

[bestozesto]

@dantheman0820 cont...And if we are really worried about the 10 carriers(others 90 being already saved by vaccination), which no one is by the way, we should come up with a real CURE for the disease not some yearly drug updates with added or subtracted moieties only to develop resistant viral strains. Such an approach is useless, research should be directed to finding cure which is not the case especially after HBV vaccination.

[bestozesto]

@dantheman0820 you sound overtly zealous and i don't doubt that but if both man and wife are vaccinated and one of them happens to be a carrier how would HBV still be transmitted?my bottom line: vaccinate everyone, and vaccinate neonates but please don't overtreat or overdiagnose your patients, avoid undue distress to those who have this infection as if they have something even worse than HIV only to make them an outcast. anyone with a little clinical acumen woludn't do that.

[dantheman0820]

@bestozesto as i said before, i am not advocating treatments for everyone. but if symptoms DO emerge and if alt/afp blood tests indicate that treatment is necessary, we need to administer treatment. and just because we are treating people does not mean we are completely ignoring the search for a cure. OF COURSE, the search for a cure is ongoing, but in the meantime, we can do something that's guaranteed to be effective: grassroots education, screening, and political advocacy.

[dantheman0820]

@bestozesto cont...400 million people are infected with chronic HBV versus the 40 million that have HIV/AIDS. 10 percent of asians have the disease, so i'm not sure where you are coming from when you say that no one is a carrier and that HBV is less important than HIV. 80% of primary liver cancer is caused by HBV, and if not cancer, HBV leads to liver failure and liver cirrhosis. hence, it is not "undue stress" to know if you have the disease; it is vital information.

[dantheman0820]

@bestozesto cont...finally, the little discrimination that does exist is purely rooted in misunderstanding and misinformation. the purpose of the jade ribbon campaign, then, is to inject good, accurate information into the community. through education and tangible health services, we can eradicate this disease and the mystery that surrounds it.

[beicatech]

Nice job, Team HBV at Harvard!