Hepatitis B historical perspective

Historical Perspective

The earliest record of an epidemic caused by hepatitis B virus was made by Lurman in 1885. An outbreak of smallpox occurred in Bremen in 1883 and 1,289 shipyard employees were vaccinated with lymph from other people. After several weeks, and up to eight months later, 191 of the vaccinated workers became ill with jaundice and were diagnosed as suffering from serum hepatitis. Other employees who had been inoculated with different batches of lymph remained healthy. Lurman's paper, now regarded as a classical example of an epidemiological study, proved that contaminated lymph was the source of the outbreak. Later, numerous similar outbreaks were reported following the introduction, in 1909, of hypodermic needles that were used, and, more importantly, reused, for administering Salvarsan for the treatment of syphilis. The virus was not discovered until 1965 when Baruch Blumberg, then working at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), discovered the Australia antigen (later known to be hepatitis B surface antigen, or HBsAg) in the blood of Australian aboriginal people. Although a virus had been suspected since the research published by MacCallum in 1947, D.S. Dane and others discovered the virus particle in 1970 by electron microscopy. By the early 1980s the genome of the virus had been sequenced, and the first vaccines were being tested.

World Hepatitis Day, observed July 28, aims to raise global awareness of hepatitis B and hepatitis C and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment. It has been led by the World Hepatitis Alliance since 2007 and on May 2010, it got global endorsement from the World Health Organization.

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