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BKFK Home Page | BKFK Kids | Inventors | Blumberg & Millman
Baruch Blumberg
& Irving Millman
Hepatitis B Vaccine
- Vaccine Against Viral Hepatitis and Process;
Process of Viral Diagnosis and Reagent Patent Nos. 3,636,191;
3,872,225.
- Baruch Blumberg discovered an antigen in 1963 that detected
the presence of hepatitis B in blood samples. Hepatitis B is a
potentially fatal disease often transmitted through blood transfusions.
- This hepatitis antigen, 'the Australia Antigen,' was found frequently
in the blood serum of viral hepatitis sufferers. The antigen was named
for an aborigine blood sample that reacted with an antibody in the
serum of an American hemophilia patient.
- Working with Blumberg,
microbiologist Irving Millman developed a test that identified
hepatitis B in blood samples. The blood test screened out carriers of
this infectious disease, and after blood banks began using the test in
1971, hepatitis B after blood transfusions decreased by 25 percent. The
test also became the first method for screening blood donations for the
hepatitis B virus.
- Together, Blumberg and Millman developed a vaccine
against the virus. This vaccine protects people exposed to hepatitis B
from infection and has been administered to millions, particularly in
Asia and Africa.
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