CDC Issues New Advice: Get Tested for Hepatitis B at Least Once.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending that people get screened for hepatitis B at least once in their lifetime, as many Americans are still living with chronic hepatitis B, which can increase the risk of liver damage and cancer. Hepatitis B is spread through blood and other bodily fluids and can be transmitted through sexual contact, sharing contaminated needles and syringes, or from mother to child during childbirth. Most people initially infected with hepatitis B won’t have symptoms, but those who do experience fatigue, poor appetite, stomach pain, nausea, and jaundice. The infection is often short-lasting, but sometimes the virus lingers in the body. Untreated chronic hepatitis B can damage the liver over time, increasing the odds of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer.

The vaccine for hepatitis B was first introduced worldwide in the early 1980s, and childhood vaccination became routine in the US starting in the early 1990s. Although the vaccine is highly effective at preventing hepatitis B, the incidence of the disease has stayed stable, if low, in recent years. There are many residents in the US born in countries where vaccination is less common, as well as older adults who may have never been vaccinated at all. The CDC recommends that people as old as 59 should get the vaccine.

The new advice from the CDC is an update to guidelines previously published in 2008, which called for people at higher risk for infection to be screened for the virus. The CDC now recommends that everyone over the age of 18 should get tested for the virus at least once in their lifetime.

An estimated 20,000 new cases of hepatitis B occur in the US every year, with up to two-thirds of those infected unaware of their infection. About 1,600 US deaths attributed to hepatitis B were documented in 2019, but this is likely to be an undercount. The one-time universal screening recommended by the CDC is expected to prevent roughly two liver transplants and 10 hepatitis B-related deaths per every 100,000 Americans screened, according to recent analysis cited by the agency.

Although there is no cure for chronic hepatitis B, antiviral treatments can keep it in check. Newborns who contract the virus can also be given treatment to help prevent chronic infection. The guidelines are meant to support the World Health Organization’s goal of effectively eliminating viral hepatitis globally by 2030.

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