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The hepatitis B epidemic and the urgent need for cure preparedness

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 15, pages 517–518 (2018)Cite this article

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More than 250 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV). In this Comment, members of the International Coalition to Eliminate HBV appraise the current policy environment and the need for appropriate cure research and preparedness to complement the WHO global elimination strategy, the HBV vaccine and the well-tolerated but poorly accessed therapy.

In 2016, the estimated global prevalence of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) was 3.9% (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 3.4–4.6), corresponding to 292 million (95% UI 251–341) infections1. With the adoption of the WHO Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis in 2016, countries were galvanized to eliminate HBV as a public health threat2. However, an estimated 90% of people living with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remain undiagnosed, and only 5% of those eligible receive treatment1. These are the ‘missing millions’ to be found, according to the 2018 World Hepatitis Day theme.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. Pericàs and H. Nde for their input into an earlier draft of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital Clínic, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Jeffrey V. Lazarus

  2. Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, Doylestown, PA, USA

    Timothy Block

  3. Global Virus Network, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Christian Bréchot

  4. Hepatitis Virus Diversity Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Anna Kramvis

  5. Forum for Collaborative Research, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Veronica Miller

  6. World Hepatitis Alliance, London, UK

    Michael Ninburg

  7. International Coalition to Eliminate HBV (ICE-HBV), The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Capucine Pénicaud

  8. German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Munich partner site, Munich, Germany

    Ulrike Protzer

  9. Center for Disease Analysis Foundation, Lafayette, CO, USA

    Homie Razavi

  10. WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, Doherty Institute, Melbourne, Australia

    Laura A. Thomas & Benjamin C. Cowie

  11. Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia

    Jack Wallace

  12. Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

    Benjamin C. Cowie

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  1. Jeffrey V. Lazarus
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Correspondence to Jeffrey V. Lazarus.

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WHO/UNICEF birth-dose vaccination coverage estimates: http://apps.who.int/immunization_monitoring/globalsummary/timeseries/tswucoveragebcg.html

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Lazarus, J.V., Block, T., Bréchot, C. et al. The hepatitis B epidemic and the urgent need for cure preparedness. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 15, 517–518 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-018-0041-6

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