Viral Load Pattern Among Hepatitis B Surface Antigen-positive Patients: Laboratory Perspective and Implications for Therapy

Hepatitis B viral infection is an old medical problem with worldwide distribution. It is usually diagnosed using serologic methods. However, the decision as to which patient to treat or not remains challenging due to the poor sensitivity of serologic markers as prognostic or severity markers. Viral load (VL) determination using polymerase chain reaction techniques is a useful tool in decision-making