Doctors issue hepatitis B warning

Doctors today called for all children to be vaccinated against a potentially fatal liver disease as the number of cases soars.

Unlike many other European countries, the UK does not routinely immunise against hepatitis B which can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, cancer and death.

The World Health Organisation recommended that by 1997 all children should have the jab, even in countries where the number of cases is low. But Government policy is to vaccinate only those "at risk".

Doctors say this is not effective. One laboratory in east London has seen about 302 cases in the last two years, but experts believe there are thousands more who have the disease and don't know it.

Professor Graham Foster, consultant hepatologist at Bart's and the London NHS Trust, said he is seeing large numbers of people with hepatitis B.

The highly infectious virus is passed through bodily fluids including saliva and blood. It can be transmitted easily from mother to baby, among young children playing together, in blood transfusions and through sexual contact.

Adults who catch hepatitis B mostly develop acute disease which tinges the skin yellow. A proportion die quickly. Young children mostly develop the chronic form which goes undetected, but can rot the liver and cause cancer.

Professor Foster said between five and 10 people are diagnosed each week at his clinic. "I am seeing dramatically more people with it than I used to. My colleagues throughout London have told me they are also seeing a lot more."

He said treating people with the disease is expensive and not very effective, so it is "madness" not to vaccinate against it.

It is thought the spread in London is fuelled by tourists to countries with high infection rates, and through ethnic communities. "Young people are dying and it is potentially preventable," said Professor

Foster. "The vast majority of physicians in this area are for routine vaccination."

Dr Sam Everington, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association, said other European countries with similar rates to Britain's are vaccinating children. He added: "There are 350 million carriers worldwide. We should be vaccinating now."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "The UK has one of the lowest prevalences in the world. Expert advice has been we should improve immunisation of groups most at risk of infection, such as babies born to mothers with hepatitis B, injecting drug users and gay and bisexual men, and this is what we have been doing.

"The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, is considering whether the programme might need to be strengthened or expanded in future."