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Chronic Viral Hepatitis B and C

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Textbook of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis B and C are viral diseases affecting millions of people worldwide. The prevalence in children is comparably low, and the dominating route of infection in industrialized countries is vertical transmission. In many countries, a vaccination program for hepatitis B has been established, and the prevalence is decreasing. No vaccination exists to date to prevent hepatitis C due to its high variable genome. Despite of a rather benign spontaneous course of the disease during childhood and adolescence, there is a considerable lifetime risk of progressive liver disease, liver cirrhosis, and the development of a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which may eventually reduce life expectancy. Thus, careful long-term monitoring has to be performed, and appropriate treatment options, which unfortunately are not entirely curative for chronic hepatitis B, have to be considered. Remarkable advances have been made in therapeutic approaches during the past 10 years for chronic hepatitis C, and considerable rates of cure have been yielded with the current standard of care. The development of novel treatment regimen is going fast and may continuously further improve the response rate.

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Abbreviations

ALT:

alanine aminotransferase

Anti-HBc:

antibody against HBcAg

Anti-HBc IgG:

immune globulin G

Anti-HBc:

antibody against HBcAg

Anti-HBc IgG:

immune globulin G

Anti-HBc:

antibody against HBcAg

Anti-HBe:

antibody against HBeAg

Anti-HBs:

antibody against HBsAg

Anti-HDV:

antibody against delta virus

cccDNA:

covalently closed circular DNA

DAA:

direct-acting antiviral

DNA:

desoxyribonucleic acid

EMA:

European Medicines Agency

FDA:

Food and Drug Administration

HBcAg:

hepatitis B core antigen

HBeAg:

hepatitis e antigen

HBsAg:

hepatitis B surface antigen

HBV:

hepatitis B virus

HCC:

hepatocellular carcinoma

HCV:

hepatitis C virus

HIV:

human immune deficiency virus

IgG:

immune globulin G

IL2:

interleukin 2

IL28B:

interferon lambda 3 gene

ORF:

open reading frame

RNA:

ribonucleic acid

SVR:

sustained viral response

TNF-α:

tumor necrosis factor alpha

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HELIOS Medical Centre, Department of Pediatrics, Witten/Herdecke University, Heusnerstr. 40, Wuppertal, 42283, Germany

    Stefan Wirth

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  1. Stefan Wirth
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Correspondence to Stefan Wirth .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Stefano Guandalini

  2. Clinical Director Child Health King’s College Hospital, Professor and Director Pediatric Liver, GI and Nutrition Center, London, United Kingdom

    Anil Dhawan

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Hebrew University Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Branski

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Wirth, S. (2016). Chronic Viral Hepatitis B and C. In: Guandalini, S., Dhawan, A., Branski, D. (eds) Textbook of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17169-2_60

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17169-2_60

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