Special Health issue of US Chinese Hepatits B

Well,
There are lots kind of vulnerable population should be talk about while facing the Public Health issue.
Let's talk about the US Chinese cause I come from Taiwan.

US Chinese are people of full or partial Chinese (particularly Han Chinese) ethnicity who hold American nationality. And, the US Chinese first generation is the first person (or people) in the family to move into the United States. Chinese Americans make up the largest ethnic subgroup of Asian Americans. 


According to the U.S census bureau over 3.4 million Chinese reside in the United States.

Eighty percent of the Chinese population resides in five states: California, NY, Hawaii, Texas and New Jersey. Fifteen percent of Chinese American elders live in poverty and 47% live alone. (McBride, Morioka-Douglas, & Yeo, 1996).

Hepatitis B and Mental Health are the top 2 special health issue for the sub-group American population

High risk nation around the world showed in the Green.(adapted from WHO, 2008)

The reason I pick up hepatitis B first is that it’s a chronic but serious disease and higher prevalence in Chinese American.It’s a kind of liver disease caused by infection with hepatitis B virus.

The most common way that the virus spread from person to person is through blood or body fluid exposure. It’s a life-long infection disease. People who are infected are likely to develop “chronic hepatits B infection” in their rest of life.

There is no significant s/s in the initial stage of infection. So people are easy to ignore it. But once you get it, it would destroy your liver function step by step and finally maybe 30to 40 yrs it causes liver cirrhosis , liver failure or even cancer.

Why there is higher prevlance in Chinses American.?

In the past, Chinese people didn’t have good health and sanitation concepts, knowledge and policy.
In the medical system, they shared syringes, scalpel and Acupuncture(針灸)needles just with simple but inadequate anti-septic process.So, the disease spread out!
And some of them got the Hepatits B and then migrant into the US.

Then they could infected other people through and blood Donation and so-called vertical infection.( infected mother spread the diseased to her child during the deliver)