The difference in the carrier states may be due to immature immune systems. As a result there are more incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis in the Asian population. Hepatitis B can present as an acute, fulminant disease or in an asymptomatic chronic carrier. There is no recommended therapy for acute hepatitis but Lamivudine has been used in some cases. The treatments discussed here are for chronic hepatitis B which by definition is a persistently positive HBSAg for greater than six months.
Treatment is recommended for people with positive HBSAg and elevated ALT and viral DNA level.
The treatment goal is to achieve seroconversion of HBSAg which is rare or loss of HbeAg which would mean less viral infectivity. Hopefully, this in turn would lead to less instance of cirrhosis and liver cancer. IFN is a family of naturally occurring small protein and glycoprotein which are products of immune cell response to a viral infection. The mechanism of action is unknown. It is thought to inhibit viral replication, inhibit viral attachment, induce proteases or amplify cytotoxic T-cell.