Portal:Viruses/Selected article/5

Light microscope image of an H&E-stained liver biopsy, showing "ground glass hepatocytes" associated with chronic hepatitis B infection

Hepatitis B is an infectious inflammatory disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV), a hepadnavirus. It affects humans and possibly other great apes. The virus is transmitted by exposure to infectious blood or some body fluids. Mother-to-child transmission is a major route in endemic countries. HBV is 50–100 times more infectious than HIV. The virus replicates in liver cells, and enters the blood where viral proteins and antiviral antibodies are found.

Acute infection is often asymptomatic but can cause liver inflammation resulting in vomiting, jaundice and, rarely, death. Over 95% of infected adults and older children clear the infection spontaneously, developing protective immunity. Only 30% of children aged 1–6 years and 5% of newborns infected perinatally clear the infection. Chronic hepatitis B may eventually progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer, causing death in around 40% of those chronically infected. The virus has infected humans since at least the Bronze Age, with HBV DNA being found in 4,500-year-old human remains. About a third of the global population has been infected at one point in their lives, including nearly 350 million who are chronic carriers. The virus is endemic in East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Infection can be prevented by vaccination.