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Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver. It is most commonly caused by a viral infection, but may be due to chemicals, alcohol or drugs and inherited diseases or autoimmune disease. The following information is concerned with those caused by .
The liver performs many functions in the body, including processing the body’s nutrients, manufacturing bile to help digest fats and breaking down potentially toxic (harmful) substances into harmless ones that the body can use or excrete. When the liver is damaged, these functions are impaired to some extent and the potentially toxic substances accumulate. The hepatitis virus reaches the liver through the blood stream, multiplies in the liver cells and is released into the bloodstream, the duct, and faeces. In this way, it can be spread to other people. Screening donated blood for the presence of blood-borne hepatitis viruses and other communicable diseases has greatly reduced the transmission of infections in people receiving blood transfusions.
The table below summarises the three most common strains of hepatitis: Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
Virus |
Hepatitis A |
Hepatitis B |
Hepatitis C |
Transmission route |
Faecal-oral |
Infected needle or blood, sexual contact |
Infected needle or blood, sexual contact |
Incubation time (acute infection) |
15-50 days |
45-160 days |
14-180 days |
Onset |
Sudden |
Either sudden or slow, unnoticed |
Usually slow, unnoticed |
Severity |
Mild |
Occasionally severe |
Usually slow-developing and symptoms not specific or strong |
Chronic form? |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Associated with other diseases? |
None |
Liver cancer, cirrhosis |
Liver cancer, cirrhosis |
Testing to diagnose acute infection |
HAV-Ab, IgM |
HBsAg, Anti-HBc, IgM, HBeAg |
HCV AG, Anti-HCV, HCV RNA (note - may have same results as in chronic hepatitis) |
Testing to diagnose chronic infection or to monitor treatment |
N/A |
HBsAg, HBV DNA, Anti-HBe |
Anti-HCV (once), HCV RNA or viral load, HCV genotype (once) |
Tests that detect previous infection |
HAV-Ab, IgG |
Anti-HBs, Anti-HBc total |
Anti-HCV |
Vaccine available? |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Common treatment |
None |
Chronic form - entecavir, tenofovir, lamivudine, adefovir, pegylated interferon |
Chronic form - pegylated interferon and ribavirin, sofosbuvir, daclatasvir, sofosbuvir+ledipasvir |
Abbreviations defined:
HAV-Ab = Hepatitis A Antibody
Anti-HBs = Hepatitis B surface antibody
HBsAg = Hepatitis B surface antigen
HBeAg = Hepatitis B e-antigen
Anti-HBe = Hepatitis B e-antibody
Anti-HBc = Anti-hepatitis B core antigen
HBV DNA = Hepatitis B Virus (test for virus genetic material)
Anti-HCV = Hepatitis C Antibody
HCV RNA = Hepatitis C Virus (test for virus genetic material)
HCV Viral Load = A detection and/or count of the amount of virus in the blood
HCV Genotype = Determines the type of Hepatitis C present (1 of 6 types)
Last Review Date: December 4, 2020
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