Antiviral therapy in hepatitis B virus-infected children with immune-tolerant characters: a pilot open-lable randomized study

Despite extensive vaccination programs, chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) in children remains a serious health problem worldwide [1 –5]. Even though a benign course of chronic HBV infection during childhood has been described, 3-5% and 0.01-0.03% of chronic carriers develop cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before adulthood [6]. Considering the whole lifetime, the risk of HCC rises to 9-24% and the incidence of cirrh osis to 2-3% per year [7]. In children, chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is characterized by its natural course, includingimmune-tolerant phase, immune-active state and inactive carrier.

Source: Journal of Hepatology - February 13, 2018 Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Shishu Zhu, Hongfei Zhang, Yi Dong, Limin Wang, Zhiqiang Xu, Weiwei Liu, Yu Gan, Hongmei Tang, Dawei Chen, Fuchuan Wang, Pan Zhao Source Type: research