Ladislav Virág, Ivan Schréter
724 cases of hepatitis B have been reported in Slovakia from 2005 to 2010. After exposure to hepatitis B virus there are five phases: immunotolerant, immunoreactive, inactive circulating HBsAg, HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B and HBsAg negative phase. Morbidity and mortality is related to the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). For patients with compensated cirrhosis, survival is 84 % at 5 years and 68 % at 10 years(18). Once cirrhosis is developed, the risk of decompensation is 20 % to 25 % per year(19). After the development of decompensation, estimated survival rates are 55 % to 70 % at 1 year and 14 % to 35 % at 5 years(20). The risk of HCC in persons with cirrhosis is estimated to be 6 % to 15 %. Risk factors for the development of HCC are male sex, age, alcohol, the presence of HBeAg and higher levels of HBV DNA. The relative risk of HCC is 9.6 among men who are positive for HBsAg only, and 60.2 among those who are positive for both HBsAg and HBeAg, as compared to healthy men(4).