Hongkonger Ms Lam has long known she is carrying a ticking time bomb after her mother and grandmother died of liver cancer. Her mother was completely asymptomatic until a late-stage diagnosis left no option for surgery.
“I knew I carried the hepatitis B virus when I was in my twenties and had since then undergone regular health check-ups to manage the bomb,” the woman in her fifties recalled.
Her regular checks were only disrupted during the Covid-19 pandemic. When she returned for a check-up in 2024, tests showed a surging viral load and a liver tumour despite her not feeling any pain.
Caught early, the tumour was successfully removed, and she was back on her feet just days after the operation. Now taking daily medication with stable blood readings, she has overhauled her lifestyle.
“Fortunately, what happened to my mother did not happen to me … a long battle has begun, and I need to build my strength to fight it,” she said.
On World Hepatitis Day on Tuesday, health authorities renewed calls for early screening and management of hepatitis B, which affects 5.6 per cent, or about one in 20, of the city’s population.