Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection represents a major burden to public health. An estimated 375 million people are chronically HBV infected worldwide. The number of HBV infected people continues to increase with 4.5 million new infections every year.HBV is a small, enveloped DNA virus causing acute and chronic hepatitis. Even if HBV is not directly cytopathic for the infected cell, the infection leads to a wide spectrum of liver disease, which often progresses to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Despite the availability of approved antivirals efficiently suppressing HBV replication, resolution of chronic infection is rarely.The current antiviral drugs are not capable of curing chronic HBV infection although HBV replication can be inhibited to very low levels if long-term antiviral therapy is maintained.

References

1.Dandri M. Gastroenterol. 2017;31(3):273–279.