Treatment for hepatitis B.

Hepatitis B virus is estimated to have infected 350 million individuals globally, accounting for over 500 000 deaths each year. An effective and widely available vaccine provides protection from infection, but treatment is rarely curative. Recent developments in antiviral treatment have brought the opportunity for greatly improved management of those chronically infected with hepatitis B virus, and for patients infected both with HIV and hepatitis B virus there is now the potential to treat both viruses with a simplified combination of drugs. This brief review discusses detection, referral, and management of patients with hepatitis B virus infection.