hepatitis b virus in iran epidemiology, liver cell damage and clinical procedure

hepatitis b is the most common cause of acute and chronic viral hepatitis in iran. it is the etiology of 70% of end-stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma in the country. before the universal neonatal vaccination in iran (1992), the contact rate with hbv was about 30% and the hbs ag+ rate was about 3%. in 2009 the contact rate has declined to 18% and hbsag+ rate decreased to 2%. the estimated total number of death due to hbv is about 5000.almost 90% of about 2 million carries in iran are unaware of infection. early diagnosis and effective therapy of this infection could reduce the morbidity and mortality of infection.