title: Hepatitis B today.
abstract: Hepatitis B remains a major problem for public health worldwide and represents a challenging disease for practicing physicians. Of the 2 billion people who have been infected with the hepatitis B virus, more than 350 million have chronic infections. These chronically infected individuals are at high risk of death from cirrhosis and liver cancer. The use of new antiviral drugs, such us nucleotides analogues, offer good hope in the prognosis of patients suffering from chronic hepatitis B.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Propedeutic Surgery, School of Medicine, Athens University, Greece. geosiam@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Safioleas
authors.forename: Nikolaos J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Lygidakis
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Manti
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000472:pathogenicity; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics