By Jeannette I. Andrade

MANILA - Approximately 16 per cent of the population or 16 million Filipinos are carriers of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) which is considered a "silent infection" globally recognized as a very serious liver ailment.

At Tuesday's celebration of the World Hepatitis Day at the Hyatt Hotel, the Hepatology Society of the Philippines (HSP) encouraged everyone to get tested for the infection with the country having a high prevalence, at more than eight per cent, of the virus that primarily attacks the liver.

The HSP is a group committed to the study of liver health, collaborating with the government in formulating policies and expertise in preventing and treating liver-related diseases.

Dr. Judy Lao-Tan of the HSP revealed that the Hepatitis B virus is hyperendemic in the country and most infected people, particularly carriers, hardly present symptoms.

"You will not know you are infected until the complications arise. Majority of those infected do not show symptoms. But acute infection in adults sometimes come out in the form of flu-like symptoms or the most common yellowish color of the white of the eyes or jaundice," she pointed out.

Tan explained that hepatitis B infection is considered chronic when a carrier is infected by the virus for more than six months.

Hepatitis, she pointed out, means inflammation of the liver and is caused by viral infection, alcohol abuse or blood toxicity.