injecting drug users, sex workers, and people with partners from countries where Hep B is more
common (Asia, South America and Africa).
To guard against mother-to-baby transmission, all pregnant women are now
offered a blood test early in pregnancy to see if they have Hep B.
Treatments for HBV include a combination of interferon injections, the
HIV drug 3TC, and more recently it's been discovered that another HIV
drug, Adefovir dipivoxil, is effective against 'wild type' as well as
3TC-resistant virus. Most people do not need treatment and will recover
on their own within about six weeks by resting if necessary.
There is a vaccination against Hepatitis B, as well as a combined Hep
A + B jab, but again, if you've already been infected, you should have
lifelong protection. To be protected against Hep B, you'll need a course
of three injections over a period of six months. Afterwards you should
be offered a blood test to check you have developed protection against
Hep B. Protection lasts between three and five years, after which you
can get a booster to top it up again. People with a suppressed immune
system may not produce an adequate immune response to this vaccine. So,
the best place to get vaccinated against Hep B appears to be your HIV
clinic, where they understand better about why you might need additional
doses of the vaccine.
Hepatitis C
Before it was identified, HCV used to be called 'non-A, non-B' hepatitis.
Like Hepatitis B, you can be infected with HCV and have no immediate symptoms.
If you have symptoms, they will be similar to other hepatic conditions;
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common is fatigue. Twenty per cent of people recover and the virus is cleared from their body. The rest slowly develop chronic infection, taking
