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| Role of general practitioners in prevention and treatment of hepatitis B in China |
| Jing-Jing Ren, Ying Liu, Wen Ren, Yan Qiu, Bing Wang, Ping Chen, Kai-Jin Xu, Shi-Gui Yang, Jun Yao and Lan-Juan Li |
Hangzhou, China
Author Affiliations: Department of General Practice, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine (Ren JJ, Liu Y, Ren W and Qiu Y); The State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, The Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases (Chen P, Xu KJ, Yang SG and Li LJ), Hangzhou 310003, China; Huzhou Teachers College, Huzhou 313000, China (Wang B); the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou 310052, China (Yao J)
Corresponding Author: Lan-Juan Li, MD, The State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, The Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China (Tel/Fax: +86-571-87236458; Email: ljli@zju.edu.cn) |
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Abstract BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may impose an economic burden to patients or their families. The prevention and control of HBV could effectively reduce the burden. However, the management of HBV-related patients has not been well controlled in China. With the development of general practitioner (GP) system in this country, GPs may greatly improve the management of the patients with HBV infection. However, the role of GPs in controlling HBV infection has been rarely studied.
DATA SOURCES: A literature search of PubMed, CNKI, Wanfang data and VIP was performed with the following key words: "general practitioner", "family physician", "community management", "community health care workers", "family practice", "hepatitis B virus", "HBV", "HBV vaccination", "HBV prevention", "HBV management", "HBV treatment", "antiviral therapy" and "chronic hepatitis B (CHB)". The information about the GPs-involved prevention, diagnosis and treatment of CHB was reviewed.
RESULTS: The reports on the role of GPs in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of HBV infection are few. But the experiences from Western countries demonstrated that GPs could play a significant role in the management of patients with CHB. The importance of GPs is obvious although there are some difficulties in China. GPs and health officials at different levels should work together in the management of patients with CHB.
CONCLUSIONS: The involvement of GPs in the management of patients with HBV infection is effective in China. But GPs' knowledge and skills for the control of HBV infection have to be improved currently. GPs' involvement will enforce the management of CHB in China in the near future.
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2014, Vol. 13 
