Hepatitus B - Sounds Scary, But Isn't

 "Let's hope we don't hit a vein darling"

The Hepatitus B Vaccine is recommended for tiny little babies as soon as they are born. Even though this is a disease which is only transferrable by blood or by sexual intercourse:

"Transmission of hepatitis B virus results from exposure to infectious blood or body fluids containing blood. Possible forms of transmission include sexual contact, blood transfusions and transfusion with other human blood products, re-use of contaminated needles and syringes"

-- Fairley C, Read T (February 2012). "Vaccination against sexually transmitted infections". Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases 25 (1): 66–72. doi:10.1097/QCO.0b013e32834e9aeb. PMID 22143117.

-- Buddeberg F, Schimmer B, Spahn D (September 2008). "Transfusion-transmissible infections and transfusion-related immunomodulation". Best Practice & Research. Clinical Anaesthesiology 22 (3): 503–17. doi:10.1016/j.bpa.2008.05.003. PMID 18831300


So if neither parent has Hepatitus B, how could the child possibly catch it? Well, OK their is maybe a 1 in a million chance that their cousin who has Hep B, might just walk in (without telling you they had Hep B) and vomit some blood into your babies mouth, but in the real world this is not going to happen to anyone who takes any amount of reasonable care of their child.

Of course you should:

1) Ask people you allow near your child if they Have Hepatitus B

2) Try not to allow anyone to vomit blood into your child's mouth

So what is Hepatitus B?

Good Question. It has a scary name and sounds like some kind of weird virus that never goes away or something.. like AIDS.. but in fact it is not like that at all...

"Acute infection with hepatitis B virus is associated with acute viral hepatitis – an illness that begins with general ill-health, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, body aches, mild fever, and dark urine, and then progresses to development of jaundice. It has been noted that itchy skin has been an indication as a possible symptom of all hepatitis virus types. The illness lasts for a few weeks and then gradually improves in most affected people."

So Hep B "lasts for a few weeks and then gradually improves in most affected people".... hmmm don't seem quite so scary to me.

So how difficult is it to treat?

"Acute hepatitis B infection does not usually require treatment and most adults clear the infection spontaneously. Early antiviral treatment may be required in fewer than 1% of people, whose infection takes a very aggressive course (fulminant hepatitis) or who are immunocompromised."

So fewer than 1% of people even need any kind of treatment, because it just goes away! And this is mean to be such a scary disease that I am meant to inject my tiny newborn baby with some cocktail of weird cells and chemicals they call a 'vaccine'?

OK, but apparently this disease is MUCH more dangerous for small children. So what about that?...

"Of those infected between the age of one to six, 70% will clear the infection." 

-- Kerkar N (2005). "Hepatitis B in children: complexities in management". Pediatric transplantation 9 (5): 685–691. doi:10.1111/j.1399-3046.2005.00393.x. PMID 16176431


OK, so even if you child gets this they are 70% likely to get rid of it by their own immune system anyway. OK so that leaves 30% of kids at risk. I guess those 30% need to learn about how to have a healthy immune system by eating properly, exercising, and using proper Herbal Medicine to help kill this virus.

The human Immune System works by producing Lymphocytes in the bone marrow. So If you want to fight off a virus you need to make sure your Immune System is working well. That means eating the right things that allow your immune system to function well.