David, who is in his forties and works in finance in Hong Kong, does not remember a life without hepatitis B, a viral infection of the liver.
“I have been a … carrier for as long as I can remember,” he says. “I found out early on as a child since I was born with it – my mother is a carrier, too.”
David’s experience is far from unusual in Hong Kong. According to Dr Loey Mak Lung-yi, a specialist in gastroenterology and hepatology, mother-to-child transmissions account for more than 90 per cent of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) cases in the city.
About 410,000 people in Hong Kong have hepatitis B, according to the government’s Viral Hepatitis Action Plan. Alarmingly, 40 per cent are completely unaware of their infection and 70 per cent are not receiving appropriate medical follow-up care.
Or as Hong Kong-based general practitioner Dr Wong Sze-man puts it: “When you take transport during rush hour and see 20 people, one of them is infected and is a silent carrier of the virus.”
Dr Wong Sze-man is a Hong Kong-based general practitioner. Photo: Marina Medical Clinic
The fact that so many people living with chronic hepatitis B infection are unaware of the condition puts David – who has known his hepatitis status his whole life – in an ironically fortunate position.