Chronic Hepatitis News

WASHINGTON — Preliminary results showed combined VIR-2218 and VIR-3434 therapy reduced hepatitis B surface antigen with mild adverse events among a small subset of patients with chronic HBV infection.

Healio spoke with Meg Doherty, MD, MPH, PhD, Director Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes at WHO, about elimination efforts for hepatitis D, including how hepatitis D would be affected by WHO Global Hepatitis Elimination goals and what U.S. physician can do to help work towards hepatitis elimination.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted areas in which the medical community can improve patient care and access to treatment for numerous conditions, including hepatitis D virus.

Healio spoke with John D. Scott, MD, MSc, FIDSA, chief digital health officer at UW Medicine, professor of allergy and infectious diseases at University of Washington and medical director at the Liver Clinic at Harborview Medical Center, to learn more about what PCPs can do to help prevent and screen for HDV.

The use of oral tenofovir-based PrEP for HIV prevention in hepatitis B-endemic countries and in high-risk populations could “markedly decrease” the number of HIV and HBV coinfections, researchers found in a review.

Although progress has been made in eliminating mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B by 2030, 26% of countries have not introduced a birth dose into routine hepatitis B vaccination, noted data in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Despite global declines in liver cancer mortality attributed to hepatitis B and C, liver cancer mortality rose sharply in the Americas, driven by an increase in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, according to data published in Cell Metabolism.

In a Healio video exclusive, Chari Cohen, DrPH, MPH, president of the Hepatitis B Foundation, and Jeff Baxter, president and CEO of VBI Vaccines, shared insights on the latest efforts in HBV treatment and prevention.

The U.S. Public Health Service has published an updated recommendation for solid organ transplant candidates aged younger than 12 years, which now exempts them from testing for HIV and hepatitis B and C viruses during surgical admission.

In a Healio video exclusive, Harvey Kaufman, MD, senior medical director at Quest Diagnostics, highlighted the need for concurrent hepatitis B and latent tuberculosis testing to mitigate the risk for drug-induced liver injury.