乙肝 (yǐgān): hepatitis B

Meanings

1 hepatitis B
2 Hep B

Characters

乙

yǐ

second (Heavenly Stem); type B

肝

gān

liver

Examples

新生儿都要接种乙肝疫苗。

Xīnshēng'ér dōu yào jiēzhòng yǐgān yìmiáo.

All newborns must be vaccinated against hepatitis B.

中国曾经是乙肝大国。

Zhōngguó céngjīng shì yǐgān dàguó.

China was once a country with a high prevalence of hepatitis B.

Tips

culture

Abbreviation of 乙型肝炎 (yǐxíng gānyán, 'type-B hepatitis'). 乙 is the second Heavenly Stem, used like a Chinese equivalent of the letter B. Hepatitis B was a major public health issue in 20th-century China; since universal infant vaccination began in 1992, infection rates have plummeted.