Hepatitis B and C

Provide a brief summary of your article (100 to 150 words; no references or figures/tables). The synopsis appears only in the table of contents and is often used by indexing services such as PubMed Chronic viral hepatitis continues to be a global health threat and a financial burden. Hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV and HCV) are the most common causes of chronic viral hepatitis in the United States. The majority of cases are asymptomatic during childhood and young adulthood. Cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma are rare during childhood but commonly expected in adulthood. Efforts from worldwide health organizations, pharmaceutical industries, and clinical and research institutions have resulted in much new knowledge, very effective therapy for HCV-infected children and the promise of new effective therapies for HBV-infected children. For HCV-infected children the current standard of care is pegylated interferon and ribavirin but clinical trials with highly effective direct acting antiviral agents are currently underway in the pediatric age group. There are currently 5 FDA-approved agents for HBV-infected children: alpha-interferon, lamivudine, adefovir, tenofovir, and entecavir. However treatment with these agents seldom results in a functional cure and more effective therapies are urgently needed