Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major global health problem and is a factor for progressive liver diseases such as chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and epatocellular carcinoma. HBV is an envelope, double stranded DNA virus with a genome of approximately 3200 base pairs. It has been classified into eight major genotypes (A-H) and multiple subtypes, and HBV genotypes have distinct geographical distribution of the world. WHO estimation of HBV prevalence, suggests that there are nearly two billion people worldwide who have been infected with this virus and more than 350 million of people live with chronic infection (up to 5% of the world population), of these; near one million people die annually from complications of chronic hepatitis B, which is the 10th leading cause of death worldwide. Throughout the world, carrier variability rate for hepatitis B infection is estimated to be 0.1% to 20%, with regions classified as having low (<2%), intermediate (2-7%) and high (>8%) endemic. In Iran, it is estimated that near 30% of population have been exposed to HBV and the endemicity is intermediate, with a carrier rate 1.3%-3.8% in the different provinces of this country. In Iran, the HBV vaccination program has been started in 1993 and after that, Iran can be considered as one of the countries with low HBV infection endemicity. The most genotype circulating in some provinces of Iran were genotype D in different clinical forms of HBV infections. The distribution of HBV genotypes may guide us in determining disease burden. It is important to have information about the epidemiology of HBV as response to therapy and vaccination to control HBV infection. Therefore, its successful treatment has major value in quality of life of patients infected by HBV. This study designed a systematic review of chronic HBV infection to determine the successful treatment and following HBV positive patients.