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Hepatitis B incidence drops in China: official

Xinhua, July 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

The reported incidence of hepatitis B in China has dropped, thanks to China's vaccination-based strategy to control the virus, a health official said Tuesday.

However, hepatitis prevention and control still face multiple challenges, said Wang Guoqiang, deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

According to data collected by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China currently has 90 million people infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), and the reported incidence of the disease has been decreasing in recent years.

The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen, a key index indicating HBV infection, for Chinese children in the 1-4 and 5-14 age groups both decreased by more than 60 percent from 2006 to 0.32 and 0.94 percent respectively, according to 2014 statistics.

The case load of hepatitis A in China hit a record low in 2014. However, the morbidity of hepatitis E has risen in recent years,indicating that China still has a long way to go in its battle against the disease, Wang said.

According to the official, the country should emphasize innovation and the use of traditional Chinese medicine in prevention.

The official noted that the vaccination-based strategy, which has been highly effective, has helped the country reach the goal set by the WHO to reduce HBV prevalence in children to less than one percent ahead of the 2017 deadline.

Meanwhile, China has strengthened its monitoring of hepatitis B nationwide, and a new approach for blood testing has been applied at the country's blood collection stations to cut the potential risk of HBV spread via transfusion, Wang said.

Tuesday marks this year's World Hepatitis Day. Endi