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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. May 28, 2015; 7(9): 1265-1271
Published online May 28, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i9.1265
Published online May 28, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i9.1265
Hepatitis B among Inuit: A review with focus on Greenland Inuit
Karsten Fleischer Rex, Stig Andersen, Department of Internal Medicine, Queen Ingrid’s Hospital, Nuuk 3900, Greenland
Karsten Fleischer Rex, Stig Andersen, Arctic Health Research Centre, Clinical Institute, Aalborg University Hospital, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark
Karsten Fleischer Rex, Greenland Centre for Health Research, Institute of Nursing and Health Science, University of Greenland, Nuuk 3900, Greenland
Stig Andersen, Department of Geriatric and Internal Medicine, Aalborg University Hospital, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark
Henrik Bygum Krarup, Section of Molecular Diagnostics, Clinical Biochemistry, Aalborg University Hospital, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark
Author contributions: Rex KF, Andersen S and Krarup HB developed the idea; Rex KF outlined of the first draft; Rex KF, Andersen S and Krarup HB made the final draft of the manuscript, and collected all relevant references for review; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest: Nothing to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Henrik Bygum Krarup, MD, PhD, Section of Molecular Diagnostics, Clinical Biochemistry, Aalborg University Hospital, Hobrovej 18-22, Reberbansgade, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark. h.krarup@rn.dk
Telephone: +45-97-665630 Fax: +45-99-166995
Received: December 1, 2014
Peer-review started: December 2, 2014
First decision: December 26, 2014
Revised: January 28, 2015
Accepted: February 10, 2015
Article in press: February 12, 2015
Published online: May 28, 2015
Peer-review started: December 2, 2014
First decision: December 26, 2014
Revised: January 28, 2015
Accepted: February 10, 2015
Article in press: February 12, 2015
Published online: May 28, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is endemic in the Arctic with serologic markers of chronic HBV infection in up to 29% of the population in some areas in Greenland. Interestingly, Inuit populations in Greenland and Canada rarely show signs of liver disease as opposed to Alaskan Inuit where hepatocellular carcinoma was common before introduction of vaccination. Wheather this is related to a special favorable genotype or other host or environmental factors remains to be clarified. This paper is a review of present status.