Hepatitis B virus therapy:What's the future holding for us?

Hepatitis B is one of the leading causes of liver cancer worldwide and unfortunately the number of people affected with hepatitis B virus(HBV) infection is still on the rise. Although the HBV has been known to cause fatal illness since decades but the population effected by this lethal virus have still only a few options for its management. The major treatment strategies include interferons and nucleos(t)ide analogues. These agents have so far produced unsatisfactory results in terms of complete virus eradication. Interferons cannot be used for long term therapy because of their potential side effects. Prolong treatment with nucleos(t)ide analogues has also been reported to cause serious side effects besides the increasing resistance by the virus. The need for new innovative solutions for treatment of HBV has been realized by global research institutes and pharmaceutical industry. Present review focuses in detail on the new ideas that are being transformed into therapeutic tools for use as future therapies in HBV infection. Modern drug designing and screening methods have made the drug discovery process shorter and more reliable. HBV therapeutics will take a new turn in coming years owing to these intelligent drug designing and screening methods. Future therapy of HBV is aiming to include the use of vaccines(both prophylactic and therapeutic), immunomodulators such as antibodies, non-nucleoside antivirals such as RNAi and inhibitors of viral life cycle.

2018—2020年菏泽市新生儿首针乙肝疫苗、卡介苗接种情况分析

目的了解新生儿首针乙肝疫苗(HepB)和卡介苗(BCG)的接种情况及影响因素,探讨免疫策略,为提高两种疫苗的及时接种率提供理论依据。方法将2018—2020年菏泽市综合医院产科新生儿首针乙肝疫苗和卡介苗接种率、首针乙肝疫苗未及时接种原因、卡介苗未接种原因、母亲乙肝病毒表面抗原(HBsAg)阳性新生儿乙肝免疫球蛋白注射情况等用Excel 2003和SPSS 23.0软件进行统计分析。结果2018—2020年菏泽市医疗机构产科报告活产儿数呈逐年递减的趋势;2018—2020年菏泽市医疗机构产科新生儿首针乙肝疫苗和卡介苗接种率保持在较高水平,均高于95%(乙肝疫苗分别为99.54%、99.63%和99.30%;卡介苗分别为97.61%、97.53%和97.54%);未及时接种乙肝疫苗的原因,以转儿科、发热和急性严重疾病为主;未接种卡介苗的原因,以转儿科、发热和急性严重疾病为主。2018—2020年母亲HBsAg阳性新生儿同时注射乙肝疫苗、乙肝免疫球蛋白率分别为96.46%、97.34%、98.76%,呈现逐年上升的趋势。结论加强宣传和培训,增强公众对预防接种的认知和工作人员正确把握接种禁忌证是提高新生儿乙肝疫苗和卡介苗接种率的关键。提高新生儿首针乙肝疫苗和卡介苗的接种率,可降低疫苗预防疾病的发病率。