Journal
VIRUSES-BASEL
Volume 14, Issue 9, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/v14091939
Keywords
HBV; HBV; HIV co-infection; occult HBV infection; vaccination; gene therapy
Categories
Funding
- South African National Research Foundation [120383]
- Poliomyelitis Research Foundation
- South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) through its Division of Research Capacity Development under the Research Capacity Development Initiative from South African National Treasury
- SAMRC
- SAMRC/National Department of Health as part of the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub
- Cancer Association of South Africa, Deutsche Forschungsgemainschaft (German Research Foundation)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- National Research Foundation of South Africa
- South African Medical Research Council
- University of theWitwatersrand
- Africa-Oxford Initiative
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Despite being vaccine-preventable, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a significant burden on public health in South Africa. Over 1.9 million people in South Africa are chronically infected with HBV, with 70% of Black chronic carriers infected with HBV subgenotype A1. HIV infection amplifies HBV replication and complicates management of the infection. Research on HBV in South Africa has made progress in understanding its epidemiology and management challenges, leading to recent revision of national guidelines and development of new vaccines and gene therapies.
Despite being vaccine-preventable, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains the seventh leading cause of mortality in the world. In South Africa (SA), over 1.9 million people are chronically infected with HBV, and 70% of all Black chronic carriers are infected with HBV subgenotype A1. The virus remains a significant burden on public health in SA despite the introduction of an infant immunization program implemented in 1995 and the availability of effective treatment for chronic HBV infection. In addition, the high prevalence of HIV infection amplifies HBV replication, predisposes patients to chronicity, and complicates management of the infection. HBV research has made significant progress leading to better understanding of HBV epidemiology and management challenges in the SA context. This has led to recent revision of the national HBV infection management guidelines. Research on developing new vaccines and therapies is underway and progress has been made with designing potentially curative gene therapies against HBV. This review summarizes research carried out in SA on HBV molecular biology, epidemiology, treatment, and vaccination strategies.
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