LONDON - Vaccinating the entire population against hepatitis is cheaper than treating victims of the virus, according to Belgian scientists.
In a report for the British Medical Journal today, Dr Pierre van Damme and a team from the University of Antwerp urge governments who do not have universal vaccination to introduce it at once.
The hepatitis B virus, loo times more infectious than HIV, can badly damage the liver and is the second-biggest cause of cancer after smoking.
More than a third of the world's population has been infected, according to specialists.