What is Hepatitis B?

When babies or children contract hepatitis B they are much more likely (than adults) to end up as long-term carriers of the disease (able to pass it on through blood or sex); and it leaves them with a high risk (about one in four) of later developing liver disease or liver cancer (even many decades later), and causes liver-related symptoms such as jaundice, nausea, lack of appetite and general feelings of unwellness. Children not vaccinated for hepatitis B are more likely to require childhood liver transplants, and hepatitis B causes more vaccine-preventable deaths (usually from liver cancer) in New Zealand than any other virus except influenza.