Much progress has been made in recent years in developing treatments for hepatitis B and C, but there is as yet no treatment proven to "cure" hepatitis.

While treatments are available that help some of the one in 20 people in the United States who will become infected with hepatitis B during their lives, more than one million Americans are "carriers" of the hepatitis B virus and will remain chronic hepatitis B patients until their deaths.

And even with drugs that appear to be effective in getting rid of the hepatitis C virus in 20 to 40 percent of infected patients, we have only 3 to 5 years of treatment results. We don't know yet if those who have a sustained response to these therapies will see a return of the virus in 5 to 10 years, or longer.

Thus, for the more than four million Americans -- and hundreds of millions more around the world -- infected with hepatitis C or chronic hepatitis B, living with hepatitis is a fact of life.

And just as hepatitis will impact how they live their lives, the choices they make may well impact progression of the disease.

In this section, we focus on some of the aspects of living with hepatitis.

All information provided in this site is offered for educational purposes only, and it is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your own physician or healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.