Hepatitis B- What is it about?

Did you know that Hepatitis B virus infects the liver of in humans, and causes an inflammation called hepatitis. It is a DNA virus cause viral hepatitis and has caused epidemics in parts of Asia and Africa. Chronic hepatitis B is a long-term infection of the liver that can sometimes develop after a bout of acute, or short term, hepatitis B.



Look at this cute virus, it is a member of the Hepadnavirus family. The virion consists of an outer lipid envelope and an icosahedral nucleocapsid core composed of protein. The nucleocapsid encloses the viral DNA and a DNA polymerase that has reverse transcriptase activity. The outer envelope contains embedded proteins which are involved in viral binding of, and entry into, susceptible cells.

Did you know that Hepatitis B virus is one of the smallest enveloped animal viruses with a virion diameter of 42nm? The surface antigen (HBsAg) is composed of the lipid and protein that forms part of the surface of the virion and is produced in excess during the life cycle of the virus. The genome of HBV is made of circular DNA, but it is unusual because the DNA is not fully double-stranded. One end of the full length strand is linked to the viral DNA polymerase.

I found this video that will give a more detailed explanation on the Hepatitis B virus.



By amas goh