Subject: Letters to the Editor -- World-Wide Plague:  Hepatitis B Virus
Date: Published: 4/27/88 46 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Letters to the Editor -- 
   World-Wide Plague:  
   Hepatitis B Virus

   Philip Revzin's article "Money Squeeze:  U. N. 's Health
Agency Finds Fund Shrinking While Work Expands" (front page,
April 7) overlooked a major preventable contagious disease
that is endemic world-wide.
   According to the World Health Organization, it was
estimated in 1987 that more than one billion people have been
infected with the Hepatitis B virus, that at least 285
million people are contagious chronic Hepatitis B carriers,
who are responsible for more than two million deaths each
year.  There are safe effective Hepatitis B vaccines that
could have saved these lives.  Though fewer than 90,000 people
are infected with AIDS, it certainly deserves our attention
and research funding; however, we cannot disregard the need
for a world-wide Hepatitis B immunization program.
   Viral Hepatitis B is not just a Third World disease.  About
25 million Americans have been infected with this virus and
some 1,250,000 are contagious Hepatitis B carriers infecting
others.  Less than half of the contagious carriers are aware
that they have Hepatitis B. Each year, 7,000 to 17,000
American deaths can be attributed to Hepatitis B and its
related infections.
   One of the high-risk groups for Hepatitis B is frequent
travelers such as business executives.  Hepatitis B is endemic
in Asia, the Near East, Africa, the U. S. S. R., the Caribbean
basin and most of the international trading cities.  In the
U. S., Hepatitis B has grown more than 50% in the past 10
years.  We are all at risk.  Hepatitis B vaccine is probably
the best investment the business executive can make to
protect his life, those of his loved ones and his associates.
   Gerald F. Meltzer
   American Hepatitis Association
   New York

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the 
personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the 
hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering 
from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]