Hi All,
News on the transmission characteristics of Hep B through sweat might have some implications for practicing martial arts
cheers,
dan
Hepatitis B virus transmitted by sweat
- Adam Cresswell, Health editor
- March 03, 2007
SWEAT may transmit the virus that causes hepatitis B - prompting a warning that people who play contact sports should ensure they are vaccinated against the potentially dangerous liver disease.
Hepatitis B can lead to liver cirrhosis and cancer in chronic cases, but until now doctors had thought the virus was mainly transmitted by infected blood and during sex.
Researchers analysed blood and sweat from 70 Turkish Olympic wrestlers - none of whom were obviously ill or had antibodies to the virus - and found the virus circulating in an "occult" or latent form in the blood of nine of them. All but one also had virus particles in their sweat, at almost the same concentrations as in their blood.
The researchers, whose results have just been published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, said hepatitis B was more transmissible than HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, because it was more concentrated in the blood and less easily destroyed than HIV once outside the body.
On the back of the results, the authors said vaccination against hepatitis B should be mandatory in all contact sports. Children have been routinely vaccinated since 2000.
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daniel james
griffith university aikido club
nathan qld 4111, australia
+61 (0)7 3735 5036 (w), +61 (0)7 3735 5384(f) , +61 (0)401 683 592 (m)
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