Thank you for your response, Cheekee ! The relative risks of HBV ; HBC ; HIV ( AIDS ) have been estimated at 30 ; 3 ; 0.3.


A booster dose of HAV vaccine may well last up to 20 years, following which a second booster can be given to those who continue to be at risk.


HBV is of particular importance because of its relatively high infectivity, and frequency in the Philippines. There was another thread on HBV six months ago (
http://filipinaroses.com/showthread....-HBV-infection ).



For members who might wonder WHY HBV varies so much in frequency between countries, the discoverer of HBV, which ultimately resulted in a vaccine ( 1982 ) was Baruch Bloomberg.



He was fascinated by inherited variations in illnesses, and collected thousands of blood samples from around the world. While investigating " yellow jaundice " he discovered a protein in the blood of an Australian aborigine. He called it " Australia antigen " – and later realised this was the surface antigen ( immune response trigger ) for Hepatitis B.



We owe Bloomberg a huge debt of gratitude for work which resulted in the first ever " cancer vaccine " – preventing not only liver cancer, but also the more common hepatitis, resulting from HB infection .



When I worked at Glasgow University, he visited us and we " took " him up Ben Lomond ( at his request ! ). Luckily he survived the climb , and received a Nobel Prize in 1976 .


Blumberg is in the foreground and I’m behind him, wearing shades !