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The silent epidemic killing more people than HIV, malaria or TB

Viral hepatitis is on the rise. Tackling hepatitis B in Africa is key to fighting back.
  1. Ian Graber-Stiehl

    1. Ian Graber-Stiehl is a science writer in Chicago, Illinois.

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Kampala, Uganda. A busy outdoor market for used textiles.

A market in Uganda — a nation where 6% of people carry hepatitis B. Credit: Sven Torfinn/Panos

Nuru was prepared for the worst when she went to get screened for HIV eight years ago. After caring for her mother in Uganda, who died as a result of the virus, Nuru moved to the United Kingdom to study, and decided to take her health into her own hands. “I was ready to be told I had HIV,” she says. “I felt, ‘That’s okay. I’ve looked up to my mother’.”

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Nature 564, 24-26 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07592-7

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 19 December 2018: An earlier version of this story referred to HIV as a DNA virus.

References

  1. Gust, I. D. Gut 38, S18–S23 (1996).

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  2. World Health Organization. Global Hepatitis Report, 2017 (WHO, 2017).

  3. Sutanto, A., Suarnawa, I. M., Nelson, C. M., Stewart, T. & Indijati Soewars, T. Bull. World Health Organ. 77, 119–126 (1999).

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  4. Xeuatvongsa, A. et al. Vaccine 34, 5777–5784 (2016).

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