What is Hepatitis?
Hepatitis means liver inflammation. Viral hepatitis means that a person has liver inflammation due to a virus. Viral infection of the liver makes the liver swell up and stop working well. The liver is an important organ. It helps your body with these functions: • Digests food • Stores energy • Removes poisons There are five types of viral hepatitis. The most common types in the United States are viral hepatitis A, B, and C.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver usually caused by one or other hepatitis viruses, such as types A, B and C. Type A is caused by eating/drinking contaminated food or water, is short-lived, and is usually not spread by blood. Types B and C are acquired by exposure to the blood of an infected person (e.g., from sharing needles for illicit drug injection or tattoos) or through sexual contact. Persons infected with hepatitis B or C, although usually healthy, may carry the viruses for many years; some are at risk of later developing serious liver disease. By screening blood donors for these types of hepatitis through medical history (asking about a history of jaundice, self-injected drug use, or contact with a person with hepatitis, etc.) and testing their blood with a battery of very sensitive tests, we are able to exclude almost all donors whose blood might transmit hepatitis. A new virus, “hepatitis G”, was discovered recently, but is felt to be a misnomer since most persons har
Illustration of liver inside skeletal frame of human body. The word “hepatitis” means inflammation of the liver. Toxins, certain drugs, some diseases, heavy alcohol use, bacterial and viral infections can all cause hepatitis. Hepatitis is also the name of a family of viral infections that affect the liver; the most common types in the United States are hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C.
Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Toxins, certain drugs, some diseases, heavy alcohol use, and bacterial and viral infections can all cause hepatitis. Hepatitis is also the name of a family of viral infections that affect the liver; the most common types are hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C.
