400 MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE are chronically infected with Hepatitis B
- 400 million people worldwide are chronically infected with hepatitis B — 280 million of those are Asian/Pacific Islanders (APIs) and 130 million are Chinese
- It is estimated that 2 million people have chronic hepatitis B in the United States, and Asian Americans account for more than half of the cases
- As many as 1 out of 10 Asian Americans has chronic hepatitis B
- Hepatitis B causes 60%-80% of liver cancer cases worldwide, and is the sixth leading cause of liver transplantation
- 5,000 people die in the United States each year from liver cancer caused by hepatitis B — equivalent to 13 deaths per day
- Hepatitis B is 50 to 100 times more contagious than HIV (the virus that causes AIDS)