The silent killer

Hepatitis B virus infection (HBV) is an important clinical and public health problem that contributes to liver-related public health morbidity and mortality. The hepatitis B virus is a highly contagious disease, which is 50-100 times more contagious than the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and 10 times more contagious than the hepatitis C virus. Although, childhood vaccination was introduced in 1980, hospital admissions, morbidity and mortality rates from HBV infection increased in Ethiopia.