One in ten of the Chinese immigrant population in Britain is carrying the hepatitis B virus, a survey suggests, leading to calls for all migrants to be screened upon entering the country.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the most common serious liver infection in the world, and thought to be the leading cause of liver cancer.

About one in three of the world’s population is infected by HBV, but half of those who carry the virus never develop any symptoms.

There has been a massive surge in migration to Britain from areas of high HBV prevalence and a report from the Hepatitis B Foundation UK estimates that more than 325,000 people here are chronically infected with the virus – nearly double the Department of Health’s 2002 estimate of 180,000. Most people infected will eventually clear the virus from their bodies, but about 5-10 per cent become chronic hepatitis B carriers, often without even knowing it.

Although the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in the resident population is only about 0.3 per cent, 96 per cent of new cases are imported by people who acquired the infection before coming to Britain.

Of 89 Chinese immigrants screened by the Chinese National Healthy Living Centre in London, 10 per cent were found to be hepatitis B positive.

There is a particular risk of transmission between children in playgroups, schools and nurseries as the virus is considered 100 times more infectious than HIV. At present in the NHS there is no requirement for doctors or nurses from overseas to be tested for infection and in 2003 alone, 700 doctors and about 6,000 nurses came to Britain from areas with a high incidence of hepatitis B.

David Mutimer, an honorary consultant hepatologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, said: “Hepatitis B is a far greater threat than TB for which there is a screening and immunisation programme.”

Penny Webb, chief executive of Hepatitis B Foundation, called for “an effective screening and immunisation programme”. “The Government must identify those migrants who are chronically infected with hepatitis B at the point of entry into the UK, so that measures can be taken to prevent transmission of the virus,” she said.

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