引言世界上大约有3.5亿～4亿人感染乙型肝炎病毒(HBV),使慢性乙肝成为全球重要的医疗保健问题。在美国,HBV 感染的患病率低于许多其它国家,约125万人已持续不断地感染了乙肝病毒;但亚洲、中东、非洲的乙肝感染率在5%～15%之间,从这些地方迁移到美国境内的外国出生者具有更高的感染率。基于这种现状,美国慢性乙肝病毒感染者的数量可能被低估。最近的一项调查表明在纽约市的亚美人群中,乙肝表面抗原(HbsAg)的血清阳性率为23%,从而支持了这一说法。在生命早期感染慢性乙肝的人群中,约有25%的人过早地死于肝硬化和/或肝细胞癌(HCC)。最 INTRODUCTION About 350 million to 400 million people in the world are infected with Hepatitis B virus (HBV), making chronic hepatitis B an important health care issue worldwide. In the United States, the prevalence of HBV infection is lower than in many other countries and about 1.25 million people are continuously infected with the hepatitis B virus; however, hepatitis B infection rates range from 5% to 15% in Asia, the Middle East and Africa Foreign-born persons who migrate to the United States have a higher infection rate. Based on this situation, the number of people infected with chronic hepatitis B virus in the United States may be underestimated. A recent survey showed that seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was 23% among Asian Americans in New York City, supporting this claim. About 25% of people infected with chronic hepatitis B in early life die of cirrhosis and / or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prematurely. most