Medline Pubmed

Hepatitis B - causes, symptoms, treatment, vaccination Hepatitis B is a viral infection that causes inflammation of the liver (hepatitis). It is caused by the hepatitis B virus, which attacks the liver cells causing either temporary (acute) or persistent (chronic) hepatitis.   Acute hepatitis B produces obvious symptoms from which people fully recover.  Chronic hepatitis B symptoms are more subtle and treatment is focused on preventing long-term liver damage and transmission of the disease.   General information Many people infected with hepatitis B do not go on to develop an illness as the body successfully fights off the virus. These people are then immune to the virus and cannot contract hepatitis B again.   When illness does occur, it is either acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term). Acute hepatitis B is usually a mild illness from which people fully recover. The chronic form of hepatitis B is more serious and can lead t...

Hepatitis C - symptoms, treatment, prevention Hepatitis C is a form of viral hepatitis which, like other forms of viral hepatitis, causes inflammation of the liver and can damage the liver cells. The hepatitis C virus generally produces a mild illness with no or subtle symptoms in its early stages.  However, it is much more likely than other hepatitis infections to go on to cause chronic liver disease.   There are genetically different strains (genotypes) of the hepatitis C virus which influence the way the virus replicates itself in the body, the course of the disease and the response of the disease to treatment. There is currently no vaccine against hepatitis C. Transmission The hepatitis C virus is transmitted through close contact with the blood of an infected person.   Transmission can occur through intravenous drug use and tattooing. There is a small risk that hepatitis C can be spread through sexual intercourse.  This risk is much...

Hepatitis E Hepatitis E is a viral hepatitis (liver inflammation) caused by infection with a virus called hepatitis E virus.It is one of five known human hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E. HEV is a positive-sense single-stranded non-enveloped RNA icosahedral virus, HEV has a fecal-oral transmission route. Infection with this virus was first documented in 1955 during an outbreak in New Delhi, India. A preventative vaccine (HEV 239) is approved for use in China. Although Hepatitis E often causes an acute and self-limiting infection (the virus usually resolves itself and the individual recovers) with low mortality rates in the western world, it bears a high risk of developing chronic hepatitis in immunocompromised patients with substantial mortality rates. Organ transplant recipients who receive immunosuppressive medication to prevent rejection are thought to be the main population at risk for chronic hepatitis E.Furthermore, in healthy individuals during the duration of the in...

Hepatitis A vaccine Hepatitis A vaccine is a vaccine that prevents hepatitis A. It is effective in around 95% of cases and lasts for at least fifteen years and possibly a person's entire life.If given, two doses are recommended beginning after the age of one. It is given by injection into a muscle. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends universal vaccination in areas where the diseases is moderately common. Where the disease is very common, widespread vaccination is not recommended as all people typically develop immunity through infection when a child.The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends vaccinating adults who are at high risk and all children. Severe side effects are very rare. Pain at the site of injection occurs in about 15% of children and half of adults. Most hepatitis A vaccines contain inactivated virus while a few contain weakened virus. The ones with weakened virus are not recommended during pregnancy or in those with poor imm...

Hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) that affects the liver.It can cause both acute and chronic infections. Many people have no symptoms during the initial infection. Some develop a rapid onset of sickness with vomiting, yellowish skin, tiredness, dark urine and abdominal pain. Often these symptoms last a few weeks and rarely does the initial infection result in death.It may take 30 to 180 days for symptoms to begin. In those who get infected around the time of birth 90% develop chronic hepatitis B while less than 10% of those infected after the age of five do. Most of those with chronic disease have no symptoms; however, cirrhosis and liver cancer may eventually develop.These complications result in the death of 15 to 25% of those with chronic disease The virus is transmitted by exposure to infectious blood or body fluids. Infection around the time of birth or from contact with other people's blood during childhood is t...

Hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, abdominal pain, and yellow tinged skin occurs. The virus persists in the liver in about 75% to 85% of those initially infected. Early on chronic infection typically has no symptoms. Over many years however, it often leads to liver disease and occasionally cirrhosis.In some cases, those with cirrhosis will develop complications such as liver failure, liver cancer, or dilated blood vessels in the esophagus and stomach. HCV is spread primarily by blood-to-blood contact associated with intravenous drug use, poorly sterilized medical equipment, needlestick injuries in healthcare, and transfusions.Using blood screening, the risk from a transfusion is less than one per two million.It may also be spread from an infected mother to her baby during birth.It is not sprea...