Davis G L
Section of Hepatobiliary Diseases, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, USA.
South Med J. 1997 Sep;90(9):866-70; quiz 871. doi: 10.1097/00007611-199709000-00001.
The hepatitis B virus (HBV), a member of the Hepadnaviridae family, was discovered 30 years ago. Since that time, clinical and basic research has led to a clear understanding of the epidemiology and natural history of infection and the pathogenesis of the resulting liver injury. Physicians are now able to accurately diagnose acute and chronic infection, though our understanding of viral quantitation and its impact on disease course and treatment response is evolving. Hepatitis B must now be considered a preventable disease, since acute infection can be effectively prevented by either passive or active immunization. However, when acute infection does occur, it evolves into chronic hepatitis or a chronic infectious carrier state in a variable proportion of cases, depending on the age and underlying immune competence of the patient. Chronic infection can be treated, though the effectiveness of available antiviral and immunomodulatory agents is less than complete. Finally, variants of the HBV are being recognized, and coinfection with the defective viroid known as hepatitis D (formerly delta agent) has been described.
乙肝病毒（HBV）是嗜肝DNA病毒科的一员，于30年前被发现。自那时起，临床和基础研究使人们对感染的流行病学、自然史以及由此导致的肝损伤发病机制有了清晰的认识。尽管我们对病毒定量及其对病程和治疗反应的影响的理解仍在不断发展，但医生现在能够准确诊断急性和慢性感染。由于急性感染可以通过被动或主动免疫有效预防，乙肝现在必须被视为一种可预防的疾病。然而，当急性感染确实发生时，根据患者的年龄和潜在免疫能力，在不同比例的病例中，它会演变成慢性肝炎或慢性感染携带者状态。慢性感染可以得到治疗，尽管现有的抗病毒和免疫调节药物的有效性并不完全。最后，HBV的变异体正在被识别出来，并且已经描述了与被称为丁型肝炎（以前称为δ因子）的缺陷类病毒的合并感染。
