Confronting the epidemic of hepatitis B and C.

With 350 million people designated as carriers of hepatitis B, and 170 million chronically infected with hepatitis C, new treatments are urgently needed

Long-term infection with several hepatitis viruses is quietly reaching epidemic proportions, and trying to arrest this rise is presenting researchers with a need for new therapies. Among the viruses that cause hepatitis, which results in inflammation of the liver, hepatitis B and C can progress to a chronic state. This long-tenn infection can lead to cirrhosis (scarfing of the liver) and frequently cancer. The progress