Among Chinese, Fear and Prejudice About Hepatitis B – Maureen Fan
From the Washington Post:
Liao, a 28-year-old engineer, worked at a large electronics company in this coastal province town, two hours west of Shanghai. He helped decide where to place large production machines on the factory floor, and how many workers were needed on which assembly lines. Last year, he won an award for good performance.But it wasn’t enough to save his job. In December, after a compulsory company physical revealed he was a carrier of the hepatitis B virus, Liao was told he was unfit for the job. He said a human resources manager told him: “You’re a hepatitis B carrier. You’re not fit for collective life, for working in a factory with colleagues.”…
In China, however, discrimination against people who carry the hepatitis B virus is not only possible but widespread. Even though at least 10 percent of the Chinese population carries the virus, which can attack the liver and cause lifelong infection, cirrhosis or liver cancer, there is a failure among many to understand that it cannot spread through casual contact. [Full Text]
(Photo of elementary school students taking anti-hepatitis B vaccine)
