Different types of medication is currently used for the current, developed, treatment in this form of the disease. Pegylated-interferon (=Peg-IFN) is currently used to deal with the multiplication (growth) of the HBV (=Hepatitis B Virus). Peg-IFN is usually offered to the patient as a form of injection. The stop of growth of the HBV is caused by the Peg-IFN, which acts as an artificial antibody in the bloodstream of the patient. The antibody will help the immune system to find the right match for the antigen, which characterizes the virus. If this match is found, the virus can’t multiply anymore. At this moment, the virus is still in the body and still needs to be cleared from the body. A T-cell, or T-Lymphocytes is responsible for this. The ‘’Peg’’ in ‘’Peg-IFN’’ stands for ‘’Pegylation’’. The Peg-IFN injection is a developed version of the previous injection type to treat hepatitis B. The less developed part namely was the regular Interferon (IFN). The antibodies of the regular IFN didn’t have the ability to stay longer in the body. The antibodies of the Peg-IFN can because of the Pegylation-process. This is the attachment of a polyethylene glycol, an important compound used in medicine, polymer chains to molecules in the body.

 

The artificial antibodies of Peg-IFN, however, can cause some side effects. These can include, fevers and headaches. In some cases, these side effects can be severe. Among all people who make use of the antibodies from the Peg-IFN injections, the chance of inflammations to the place of injection is present. People who have experienced mental damage in the past can even experience suicidal thoughts or psychoses.

 

Besides of Peg-IFN, Tenofovir, usually given in a capsule form to the patient, can also be used to stop the virus from multiplying, thus reproducing. Tenofovir decreases the activity of an important enzyme of the virus. This enzyme is called the reverse transcriptase. This enzyme generates DNA, genetic information, from an RNA template from the virus. The decrease of the activity of the enzyme of reverse transcriptase of the virus, thus, causes less DNA to be reproduced from RNA. This will lead to the virus not to be supplied with the genetic information in DNA which will eventually cause the stop of multiplication of the virus. The advantage of this method of treatment is that symptoms occur less compared to the use of Peg-IFN. Also, the symptoms that can arise using Tenofovir are most likely to be fevers and headaches.

The con of using this type of treatment is, however, that the patient must take the medication for a relatively long time, if it is compared to the use of Peg-IFN. The patient must namely use it for longer than a year. Also, resistance by the virus of hepatits B for the medication can occur.