Push to cure hepatitis B, a neglected disease

A coalition of researchers, health organizations and patient groups on Wednesday launched an ambitious campaign to treat hepatitis B, a disease that kills twice as many people as malaria but receives significantly less. # 39; s attention.

"Unexplainably, despite the heavy human and economic toll of chronic hepatitis B (HBV), research remains largely underfunded," said Peter Revill, Senior Scientist at the Doherty Institute of Royal Melbourne Hospital.

"Research on HBV treatment could make all the difference."

More than 257 million people are chronically infected with the disease, which attacks the liver and can lead to a deadly form of cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma.

There is no cure, but antivirals have been shown to be effective in dealing with symptoms.

An HBV test has been available since the 1970s and a 95% effective vaccine since the early 1980s.

And yet, HBV caused nearly 900,000 deaths in 2017, twice as much as malaria, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The test was only carried out by one infected person in ten, and only a few countries in which the disease is most prevalent have guaranteed the widespread use of the vaccine.

The strategy of the International Coalition for the Elimination of HBV was presented Wednesday at the International Liver Congress in Vienna and published at the same time in the medical journal The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

The two-pronged effort is to cure HBV without killing the infected cells, on the one hand, and to induce immune responses to safely kill those cells, on the other.

Not a dream

Each goal – one focused on the virus, the other on the immune system – will require clinical trials and the funding needed to support them, the coalition said in a statement.

"Healing for hepatitis B is not a chimera and should not be considered as such," said Su Wang, physician and president-elect of the World Hepatitis Alliance.

"The 257 million of us who live with Hepatitis B are eager for this to be a reality in order to put an end to unnecessary suffering and death."

The highly contagious virus – transmitted by contact with blood or other body fluid – causes acute or chronic forms of the disease.

Chronic infection can be managed by treatment for life, but less than 10% of people in need are affected.

Even with treatment, patients have a higher risk of developing liver cancer.

There is no specific treatment for acute HBV, which can cause extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and, to a lesser extent, acute liver failure.

Since 1992, the World Health Organization has recommended a first dose of vaccine within 24 hours of birth to protect against mother-to-child transmission, but only half of newborns are vaccinated as quickly.

Previous research has shown that of the 16 countries that account for more than 80% of infections among five-year-olds, only China has increased the number of birth-to-birth vaccines by 90%.

China, India, Nigeria, Indonesia and the Philippines account for nearly 60% of all infections.

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© 2019 AFP