Based on the national survey conducted by Hepatitis Australia, most Australians surprisingly have a disturbingly limited knowledge of hepatitis B and C.

They are unfamiliar with the common symptoms exhibited by the disease and are unaware that it is curable, states the survey findings.

Of 1,000 people surveyed Australia-wide, about eighty to 85 per cent did not know having hepatitis B and C can trigger cancer.

They held a false assumption that hepatitis C can be contracted by saliva, and 68 per cent wrongly thought it is sexually transmitted.

The president of Hepatitis Australia, Stuart Loveday says, Hepatitis B on the other hand is a sexually transmissible infection, yet only 56 per cent of respondents knew this.

The survey also told that additional public education regarding hepatitis B and C is called for by more than 80 per cent of the survey participants.

People with hepatitis B and C can develop severe liver disease and liver cancer if proper treatments are not being taken.

Mr Loveday says, A government-funded social marketing campaign is desperately needed to address the confusion if we are to stem the 10,000 new infections occurring annually within Australia, improve current treatment rates and enhance the health and wellbeing of people with viral hepatitis.

Australia Medicine Hepatitis b