Patients with hepatitis B who did not respond to lamivudine therapy had a better virological response after switching to entecavir for a year. Continuing the drug for an additional year led to even more clinical improvement without significant side effects, according to a new study in the July issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

Genotype D is found to be the only detected type in different clinical forms of HBV infections, including cirrhosis, among residents of southwestern Iran. A significant association between the presence of anti-HBe antibody and increasing ALT levels among either HBeAg-negative or HBeAg-positive individuals was also determined.

New BARACLUDE (entecavir) data presented today demonstrated a continued low incidence of resistance in nucleoside-naпve patients through five years of treatment. In the nucleoside-naпve chronic hepatitis B patients analyzed, no additional patient developed resistance in the fifth year (n=108).

A significant drop in abnormal Pap test results happened after girls and women were given a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, according to a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

Lamivudine is an effective antiviral agent for treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B and advanced liver diseases.

The failure of the UK to introduce universal hepatitis B immunisation means that most UK citizens are susceptible to infection, warns an infectious diseases expert in this week’s BMJ.

One in four people who are chronically infected with hepatitis B will die from its impact if untreated, but a team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has identified the most cost-effective way of fighting this treacherous infection.

Hepatitis B is caused by a virus that infects the liver, causing disease that can lead to a deadly cancer. The World Health Organization calls hepatitis B a serious global public health problem. Many people who have it, even in the United States, are completely unaware they are infected.

“Am I going to die" I have no future.” “I feel depressed at times, fearful I may not see my children marry or be a grandparent.” Such heart-rending statements from patients with chronic hepatitis B reveal the social and mental impact of this disease, which affects 350 million worldwide.

Treating hepatitis B patients with the drug entecavir can cause those who are also infected with HIV to become resistant to two of the most important drugs in the anti-HIV arsenal, according to a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Many patients with chronic hepatitis B are deficient in their understanding of the lifelong disease and often do not comply with the drug regimens necessary to control it, according to a new UCLA survey that suggests improved patient involvement in disease management decisions could be the key to fixing this problem.

Blood Diagnostics, Inc. (BDI), one of the leading distributors of recombinant and plasma-derived pharmaceutical products, on May 18th announced immediate availability of HepaGam B, the first intravenous hepatitis B immune globulin approved by the FDA.