http://www.nydailynews.com/11-16-2005/c ... 2752c.html

Asian New Yorkers
in Hep B 'epidemic'



BY PAUL H.B. SHIN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A mass screening for liver disease among Asian New Yorkers has revealed that a staggering one in five was infected with hepatitis B - a virus that can lurk silently for years and then explode into deadly illnesses.
Because the free screenings - the largest effort of its kind in the United States to date - attracted mostly recent immigrants without health insurance, the results probably skewed higher, doctors involved with the program said.

But the alarming numbers suggest that even among all Asian New Yorkers, the infection rate could be 12% to 16% - about 30 to 40 times higher than the national average, doctors said.

"It is an epidemic," said Dr. Thomas Tsang, medical director of the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center in Manhattan's Chinatown, one of the clinics where the screenings are being offered.

So far, more than 1,800 people have been screened.

The reason hepatitis B is so common in the Asian community is because of immigration from countries such as China, where the disease is widespread and often transmitted from mothers to babies during childbirth, said Dr. Henry Pollack, an infectious diseases expert at NYU School of Medicine.

Pollack's fellow researchers unveiled the shocking findings earlier this month in San Francisco at a gathering of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Many people who have hepatitis B don't show any symptoms. But it can spiral out of control unexpectedly, causing cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. "It's responsible for 80% of liver cancer worldwide. So it's a huge burden," Pollack said.

The tragedy is that vaccines and treatments are readily available for hepatitis B, said Dr. Teresa Wright, president of the liver disease association. "The treatments have been greatly improving," Wright said. "In the past, when we couldn't do much about hepatitis B or C, there was less reason to identify people who might be infected."

But the new findings should be a "wakeup call" to all Asian-Americans to get a simple blood test, she said.

The unprecedented screening and treatment effort - officially known as the Asian American hepatitis B Program - is funded by a City Council grant.

All newborns in the United States have been vaccinated against hepatitis A and B for over two decades, which explains the generally low infection rate nationwide, Wright said. A vaccine for hepatitis C does not yet exist, though there are new treatments to keep the virus in check.

Gilbert Lai, 67, who runs an import business in Chinatown, tested positive for hepatitis B a few years ago. But he has been returning to the community health center for checkups to make sure his immune system is keeping the virus in check. "I'm going to recommend everyone I know to get tested," Lai said as a nurse drew a small vial of blood for his latest checkup with Tsang.

In addition to the screenings, the program has allowed doctors to vaccinate nearly 500 people who would otherwise have been at risk of contracting the potentially fatal disease.

"It's not a trivial increased risk," Wright said, noting that one in three people infected with hepatitis B suffer liver failure during some point in their lives. "Everybody who is an immigrant from high prevalence areas such as Asia should be tested."