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Hepatitis B infection has been preventable by vaccination since 1982. [4] [12] As of 2022, the hepatitis B vaccine is between 98% and 100% effective in preventing infection. [1] The vaccine is administered in several doses; after an initial dose, two or three more vaccine doses are required at a later time for full effect. [1]
HBsAg (hepatitis B surface antigen) was the first hepatitis B virus protein to be discovered. [15] It consists of small (S), medium (M) and large (L) protein. [16] HBcAg (hepatitis B core antigen) is the main structural protein of HBV icosahedral nucleocapsid and it has function in replication of the virus. [17]
Hepatitis D is a defective virus that requires hepatitis B to replicate and is only found with hepatitis B co-infection. [17] In adults, hepatitis B infection is most commonly self-limiting, with less than 5% progressing to chronic state, and 20 to 30% of those chronically infected developing cirrhosis or liver cancer. [31]
Although liver diseases transmissible among human populations were identified early in the history of medicine, the first known hepatitis with a viral etiological agent was Hepatitis A, in the picornaviridae family. Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) was identified as an infection distinct from Hepatitis A through its contamination of yellow fever vaccine.
Baruch Samuel Blumberg (July 28, 1925 – April 5, 2011), known as Barry Blumberg, was an American physician, geneticist, and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Daniel Carleton Gajdusek), for his work on the hepatitis B virus while an investigator at the NIH and at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. [3]
It was discovered to be part of the virus that caused serum hepatitis by virologist Alfred Prince in 1968. Heptavax, a "first-generation" hepatitis B vaccine in the 1980s, was made from HBsAg extracted from the blood plasma of hepatitis patients. More modern vaccines are made from recombinant HBsAg grown in yeast.
Viral hepatitis is either transmitted through contaminated food or water (A, E) or via blood and body fluids (B, C). The viruses transmitted through water and food are mostly self-limited, resulting in acute illness with full resolution.
Hepatitis is a disease of the liver that has been recognised since antiquity. [213] Symptoms include jaundice, a yellowing of the skin, eyes and body fluids. [214] There are numerous causes, including viruses – particularly hepatitis A virus, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus. [215]