title: Hepatitis B: diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.
abstract: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection occurs worldwide and is an important cause of acute and chronic viral hepatitis in the US. In this review, I describe the virus, risk factors for infection, clinical features of infection, results of laboratory tests during infection, and standard and emerging treatment for chronic infection. Although 95% of adult patients recover completely from HBV infection, 90% of children < or = 4 years of age develop chronic infection. Active vaccination is highly efficacious.
authors.affiliation: Division of Digestive Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gitlin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic
chemical_list: D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic