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Review
. 2020 Dec;69(4):391-399.
doi: 10.33073/pjm-2020-044. Epub 2020 Dec 27.

Hepatitis B Virus: From Diagnosis to Treatment

Meryem Guvenir  1 , Ayse Arikan  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Hepatitis B Virus: From Diagnosis to Treatment

Meryem Guvenir et al. Pol J Microbiol. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Hepatitis B infection is still a global concern progressing as acute-chronic hepatitis, severe liver failure, and death. The infection is most widely transmitted from the infected mother to a child, with infected blood and body fluids. Pregnant women, adolescents, and all adults at high risk of chronic infection are recommended to be screened for hepatitis B infection. The initial analysis includes serological tests that allow differentiation of acute and chronic hepatitis. Molecular assays performed provide detection and quantification of viral DNA, genotyping, drug resistance, and precore/core mutation analysis to confirm infection and monitor disease progression in chronic hepatitis B patients. All patients with chronic hepatitis B should be treated with antiviral medications and regularly monitored for efficient treatment. The current treatment is based on nucleos(t)ide analogs and pegylated interferons that save lives by decreasing liver cancer death, liver transplant, slow or reverse the progression of liver disease as well as the virus infectivity.

Keywords: antiviral treatment; hepatitis B virus (HBV); nucleic acid testing; serology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest The authors do not report any financial or personal connections with other persons or organizations, which might negatively affect the contents of this publication and/or claim authorship rights to this publication.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Hepatitis B virus genotypes (A-J) (Paudel and Suvedi 2019).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Global prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection (WHO 2019a).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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