A coalition of public health and medical students concerned about the high rate of hepatitis B in Boston's Asian community will launch a free screening and vaccination service in October, thanks to vaccines donated by Merck & Co. and screenings in conjunction with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Hepatitis B is an incurable disease that may cause liver failure and death, but an effective vaccine is available. The virus is present in blood and other body fluids and can spread by sexual contact, needle sharing, maternal transmission, and unsterile equipment used for body piercing and tattooing. An estimated 250,000 people in the U.S. are infected annually. Nearly 5,000 die each year.
The members of the HepB Initiative are, front row (l to r): Michael Tran (HMS) and Leslie Hsu (HSPH); middle row: Cassandra Lee (BUMS), Cassandra Kelleher (HMS), Emily Tsai (HMS), Lucy Shum, and Annabel Chen (HMS); back row: Joyce Ho (HSPH), Tom Sun (TUSM), Nerissa Concepcion (HMS), Emerson Lin (HMS), and Jim Cheung (HMS). Missing is Jeanie Chou (HSPH).
The disease is especially prevalent in populations from Southeast Asia, China, the Pacific Islands, and several areas of Africa and South America. In Boston, which has a large Chinese community and is a popular area for Southeast Asian refugees, the average annual incidence (per 100,000 people) between 1990 and 1995 was nearly 200 for Asians, while only 28 for blacks and less than 7 for whites.
Led by Leslie Hsu (HSPH '98) and Michael Tran (HMS '00), students from Harvard Medical School, the Harvard School of Public Health, Tufts University School of Medicine, and Boston University Medical School formed the Hepatitis B Education and Prevention in Boston (HepB) Initiative in February 1997. Their initial research indicated that Asian teenagers and young adults are at especially high risk. Many have not been vaccinated despite recent immunization programs, and they are likely to engage in risky behaviors that spread the virus. So the HepB organizers decided to target Asian high school students and young adults for education, screening, and vaccination.
A Key Donation
Tom Vernon, HMS '64, executive director of medical and public health affairs at Merck, was impressed by the HepB Initiative's effort to reach a group most at risk. Merck's donation of 600 doses of hepatitis B vaccine will enable the group to offer free vaccinations to 200 uninsured youths through the South Cove Community Health Center and other clinics serving the Asian community. The vaccine is administered in three doses over a six-month period and usually costs about $180. (Screening adds $60.)
Hsu was motivated to form the HepB Initiative by personal experience: she lost both her mother and brother to hepatitis B. "None of us knew what hepatitis B was until it was too late, and I wanted to do something that would stop this disease from hurting others," she says. Encouragement from her HSPH advisers and the support of an Albert Schweitzer fellowship have helped her carry out her vision.
In a short time, the HepB Initiative has achieved its first goal, of locating screenings and vaccinations for the uninsured. Now the group will be soliciting additional monetary and in-kind donations for their second goal, to join community service organizations, such as the Chinatown Coalition, to mount a mass media campaign. This program would educate Asian youths about hepatitis B and tell them about the availability of free screenings and vaccinations for those who do not have medical insurance.
--Peta Gillyatt