Hepatitis B Vaccination Cuts Deaths From Liver Disease, Cancer: Study

Taiwanese researchers report a 90 percent reduction in deaths from complications of hepatitis B since the country began its infant vaccination program in 1984. Vaccinations have also decreased the spread of hepatitis B, which can cause liver damage, liver cancer and a deadly reaction in babies called infant fulminant hepatitis, the researchers said. "Immunization has provided 30-year protection against acute hepatitis and end-stage chronic liver diseases, including cirrhosis and liver cancer," said lead researcher Chien-Jen Chen, a vice president at the Genomics Research Center at Academia Sinica in Taipei. The implications of the findings are global. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_140318.html