How many people with HBV were estimated to be living in the U.S. in 2016?

• A. 250,000.
• B. 862,000.
• C. 1.5 Million.
• D. 2.5 Million.

Answer: (B)

Estimating how many people are living with HBV in the U.S. in 2016 requires recognizing that hepatitis B can become a chronic infection and many individuals don’t know they are infected. Public health researchers combine diagnosed cases, seroprevalence data, immigration patterns, and mortality to model the total number living with the virus, not just those who have been diagnosed. In 2016, the best-supported estimate is about 862,000 people living with HBV in the United States. This figure reflects the ongoing burden of chronic infection, including people who remain undiagnosed, and it aligns with the population size at that time. The other numbers are farther from the published estimates: one is too low given the extent of chronic HBV infections captured in models, while the larger figures would imply a substantially higher prevalence than what surveillance and modeling data show for that year.