Early initiation of antiviral therapy contributes to a rapid and significant loss of serum HBsAg in infantile-onset hepatitis B

Optimal management of chronic hepatitis B patients receiving nucleos(t)ide analogues

“…A recent real‐world study including a small group of patients with HBeAg‐positive chronic infection showed that the initiation of LAM in children under the age of 1 was much more effective than IFN therapy after the age of 1, achieving HBsAg loss in 83% and 36% ( P = .0023) of patients, respectively, at 12 months of follow‐up. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to support these findings …”

Early treatment of chronic hepatitis B in children: Everything to play for?

“…We read with interest the recent publication by Zhu et al, entitled "Early initiation of antiviral therapy contributes to a rapid and significant loss of serum HBsAg in infantile-onset hepatitis B", which describes the results of a clinical trial, where HBVinfected infants aged under 1 year were treated with antiviral therapy, along with a cohort of children aged >1 year. 1 We are pleased to see that the encouraging results from this study can add to the debate on whether treatment of chronic HBV infection (CHB) should be initiated at an early age. Importantly, these data have been discussed in an accompanying editorial by Ling & Mogul; "Treatment of hepatitis B virus: A window of opportunity?…”

Antiviral treatment for hepatitis B in infancy: Still an issue for debate

“…We thank Chen et al and Liu et al for their interest in our article 1 and we also thank the Journal of Hepatology for the opportunity to reply to their comments. First, all mothers of the infants in our study had positive serum HBsAg and HBeAg and a high-level of HBV DNA.…”