How common is hepatitis B infection?
Hepatitis B is a very common infection. Each year in the United States, an estimated 200,000 persons are newly infected with hepatitis B virus. More than 11,000 of these people are hospitalized, and 20,000 remain chronically infected. Overall, an estimated 1.25 million people in the United States have chronic hepatitis B virus infection, and 4,000 to 5,000 people die each year from liver disease or liver cancer related to hepatitis B. Nearly 300 million persons in the world are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus. High rates of chronic infection are found in some parts of China, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Pacific islands, the Amazon Basin in South America, and the Middle East. Is hepatitis B a new or emerging infectious disease? Cases of hepatitis B virus infection increased through 1985 and then declined through 1993 because of wider use of hepatitis B vaccine in adults, changes in high-risk practices, and possibly a decrease in the number of susceptible persons. Since 1993,
