Hepatitis

Abstract

Worldwide, approximately 170 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and another 350 million individuals are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) (1,2). Canada is estimated to have 240,000 to 300,000 HCV and 200,000 to 280,000 HBV chronic carriers (3,4). Without intervention, over multiple decades, approximately 15% to 30% of chronic HBV- and HCV-infected individuals will develop cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease or liver cancer, or will require liver transplantation (1,2,5). From a public health perspective, the major challenge is how best to avoid acute (incident) infections in at-risk populations, and for those already chronically infected, how to prevent consequent morbidity and mortality.