| Patients with active HBV infection require liver function tests and further medical evaluation. |
| Three drugs have been approved for chronic HBV treatment, alpha-interferon, lamivudine, and adefovir. |
| Even though HBV is not considered a cytopathic virus, immune responses directed against HBV epitopes will continue to cause hepatic damage in the presence of viraemia. |
| Moreover, more and more evidence is evolving that inhibition of entry and intrahepatic spread of HBV and HDV may play an essential role of future curative regimes. |
| The decreases m the serum HBV load were associated with very mild increases in alanine transaminase levels. |
| Due to undetectable serum HBV DNA at 48 weeks, 197 adefovir dipivoxil-treated patients were not genotyped. |
