DHAKA, Sept 14, 2018 (BSS/UNICEF FEATURE) – Zainal Abedin, a 12-year boy
who lived in Gobaria village under Kulairchar upazila in Kishoreganj, died in
2002 after suffering from hepatitis B virus.
Since Zainal was infected with the deadly virus, none of his family could
imagine that the promising boy was inching toward death silently. Without
realizing the extreme consequence of the virus, the unconscious parents
firstly sent him to a local quack, commonly known as kabiraj, to get
treatment of the disease.
One day, Zainal’s condition deteriorated severely. He started vomiting as
his stomach was not functioning well. His guardians tried their best to save
the life of their boy, but time was over. Zainal died of the hepatitis B on
the way to a hospital.
Two years after Zainal’s death, one of his cousins also died after
suffering from hepatitis B. But, gone are the days when many children died of
HBV infection every year.
Meanwhile, the hepatitis B vaccine is invented, which is saving lives of
children from the deadly virus infection in Bangladesh.
A new icddr,b study found that the hepatitis B vaccine programme in
Bangladesh is highly effective in preventing chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV)
infection among children.
The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
(icddr,b), an international health research organisation located in Dhaka,
conducted the study in collaboration with the Institute of Epidemiology,
Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Bangladesh, the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
Stanford University, the USA.
According to the WHO Global Hepatitis Report, 2017, the hepatitis B virus
infects the liver, and poses a serious threat to newborns whose mothers are
already infected as this blood-borne disease can spread during birth.
The icddr,b study indicated that the three-dose vaccine, as part of the
current hepatitis B vaccination programme in Bangladesh, was highly effective
in preventing chronic HBV infection among children, even though a birth dose
was not given.
Children under age 6 years, if infected with the HBV, are the most likely
group to develop chronic infections, which can lead to cirrhosis (scarring of
the liver) or liver cancer. About 257 million people are living with HBV
infection worldwide.
“Our study examined the presence of antibodies against HBV in over 2,000
children across the country and found evidence of very low prevalence (0.05%)
of chronic HBV infection in children who were born after the introduction of
hepatitis B vaccine in Bangladesh,” Repon Paul, first author of the icddr,b
study, said on a recent webpost.
Researchers observed that the hepatitis B vaccination programme achieved
94.2 percent vaccination coverage in Bangladesh, adding that it is best to
take the earliest opportunity to vaccinate after birth to prevent both
mother-to-child and child-to-child transmission of HBV.
According to them, Hepatitis B is one of five types of viral hepatitis (A-
E), which is transmitted through bodily fluids, especially blood. In addition
to mother-to-child and child-to-child transmission, it is also transmitted
through unsafe sexual contact and medical practices.
The hepatitis B vaccine was introduced during 2003-2005 to the Expanded
Programme on Immunization (EPI) in Bangladesh, using the WHO-recommended
schedule at 6, 10, and 14 weeks of age. WHO subsequently recommended early
vaccination of babies against hepatitis B within 24 hours of birth.