Local Hepatitis B Advocates Debunk Virus Myths and Say We Need More Education to Overcome Stigma.
While
Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) account for less than 5 percent of
the U.S. population, they comprise half of the estimated 1.2 million
people living in the United States with the chronic hepatitis B virus
(HBV), according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
It’s a statistic that hits close to home for APIs living
in Washington state. The Washington State Department of Health
determined that there were 15,664 reported cases of chronic HBV from
December 2000 through December 2011 statewide. Half of all those cases
happened in King County — home to 353,702 of the 674,573 Asian and
Pacific Islander Americans in Washington state, according to the 2010
Census.
Read more... Labels: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), epidemiology, Myths