Campaign seeks to raise awareness of hepatitis B

More than 40 local medical and immigrant-services organizations announced a campaign Tuesday to raise awareness among the public - and, in particular, health-care providers - about hepatitis B and the deadly liver cancer that can result from a lack of treatment.

Vaccination, which has been required for school entrance in Pennsylvania for more than a decade and in New Jersey for nearly that long, has reduced new infections and caused many physicians to stop screening for the virus, officials said. But chronic illness may not cause symptoms for many years.

Rates are rising in immigrant African, Asian, and Asian American communities, said Joan M. Block, executive director of the Hepatitis B Foundation, a national group based in Doylestown that is coordinating the effort.

- Don Sapatkin