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All babies are to be vaccinated against a deadly cancer-causing virus which experts fear is becoming increasingly common.

They will be inoculated against hepatitis B, which can trigger liver cancer , in a new jab that will also protect against five other diseases.

Every baby born from August 1 will receive doses of the ‘Hexa’ jab at four, eight and 16 weeks. Hepatitis B is a virus that attacks the liver, potentially leading to cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Transmission is via blood or other bodily fluids.

That means it can be spread by sex or infected needles - but also by something as innocuous as sharing a toothbrush.

(Image: Getty Images)

It is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Public Health England (PHE) said the decision to inoculate all babies, rather than just those deemed at high risk, was taken because a ‘cost-effective combination vaccine’ was now available.

The jab also protects against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).

Evidence suggests immigration to the UK is behind rising cases of chronic infection, where the virus lies largely dormant - but incurable - in the body.

In some sub-Saharan African countries, one in seven is a carrier. East Asia and parts of Eastern Europe are also hotspots.

In 2012, PHE reported that 19 out of every 20 antenatal women testing positive for hepatitis B in London were born abroad. Of those, nearly half were born in Africa.

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It concluded: ‘Long-term infections in migrants are estimated to account for around 96 per cent of all new long-term hepatitis B infections in the UK.’

But hundreds of thousands of people in the UK - who are not new immigrants - carry the disease. And the fear is that the disease will never be eliminated without a mass childhood vaccination programme.

Hep B can survive outside the body for at least a week, so objects contaminated with dried blood pose a risk. Worldwide, 250 million people are infected with hep B, and it kills 900,000 a year.

At present there is a limited vaccination programme confined to at risk groups such as pregnant mothers and drug users.

Surgeons and other healthcare workers were included in the 1990s after a series of scares when surgeons were found to be carriers and in some cases passed the virus on to patients.

(Image: Getty Images)

The aim of vaccination of babies will be to wipe the disease over the long term by ensuring that everyone is protected from infection.

Liver disease experts argue that mass immunisation is the only way of eliminating the disease which is believed to have more than doubled in prevalence since the beginning of the century.

Professor Deirdre Kelly, of Birmingham Children’s Hospital, who higlighted the problem of it being passed on by mothers to new born babies, said: “This is great news and long overdue.”

The Children’s Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF) have previously called for all babies to be immunised against Hepatitis B, bringing the UK in line with World Health Organisation policy.

A CLDF spokeswoman said: “We are delighted to announce that, following many years of campaigning by CLDF and other organisations, Hepatitis B is to be included in the universal infant vaccination programme."

Dr Sema Mandal, Consultant in Immunisation at Public Health England, said: “The introduction of hepatitis B vaccine as part of the childhood immunisation programme means that children will now be routinely protected against this serious infection, which is a major cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer in later life.”