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Hepatitis B Virus

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Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV), a hepatotropic, non-cytopathic DNA virus, apparently present in Homo sapiens from the dawn of its evolution, represents a very important health problem worldwide. Despite the availability of an efficient prophylactic vaccine, it is calculated that HBV still infects approximately 300 million people and causes more than half a million death per year for hepatic diseases (HCC and liver cirrhosis) that develop as a consequence of its persistent infection. In contrast to most communicable diseases, morbidity and mortality rates related to infection with both hepatitis B and C viruses have increased over the last 20 years. However, while new therapies for HCV have delivered remarkable results, with more than 90% of patients achieving viral clearance with directly acting antivirals (DAA), the therapy options with curative intent for HBV are still a distant future.

In this chapter, after a brief summary of HBV epidemiology, we will mainly describe the virological and immunological features of HBV that make it difficult to eradicate from the infected host. We will also discuss the natural history of infection with a final paragraph focused on the therapeutic strategies that are currently under development to achieve a better cure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    Antonio Bertoletti

  2. Department of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    Hongming Huang

  3. Department of Infectious Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

    Hongming Huang

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  1. Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, The University of California School of Medicine, Davis, CA, USA

    M. Eric Gershwin

  2. Departments of Medicine and Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    John M. Vierling

  3. Department of Medicine, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan

    Atsushi Tanaka

  4. President, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

    Michael P. Manns

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Bertoletti, A., Huang, H. (2020). Hepatitis B Virus. In: Gershwin, M.E., M. Vierling, J., Tanaka, A., P. Manns, M. (eds) Liver Immunology . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51709-0_16

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