Hepatitis - Hepatitis A Virus, Symptoms And Transmission, Prevention And Control, Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus - Hepatitis C and E viruses
liver types serious portion
Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver, a potentially life-threatening disease most frequently caused by viral infections but which may also result from liver damage caused by toxic substances such as alcohol and certain drugs. Hepatitis viruses identified to date occur in five types: hepatitis A (HAV), hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), hepatitis D (HDV), and hepatitis E (HEV). All types are potentially serious and, because clinical symptoms are similar, positive identification of the infecting strain is possible only through serologic testing (analyzing the clear, fluid portion of the blood). Symptoms may include a generalized feeling of listlessness and fatigue, perhaps including mental depression, nausea, vomiting, lack of appetite, dark urine and pale feces, jaundice (yellowing of the skin), pain in the upper right portion of the abdomen (where the liver is located), and enlargement of both the liver and the spleen. Severe cases of some types of hepatitis can lead to scarring and fibrosis of the liver (cirrhosis), and even to cancer of the liver. Epidemics of liver disease were recorded as long ago as Hippocrates' time and, despite major advances in diagnosis and prevention methods over the past two decades, viral hepatitis remains one of the most serious global health problems facing humans today.
These relatively recently discovered viruses, often called non-A, non-B hepatitis, exist in more than 100 million carriers worldwide, with 175,000 new cases developing each year in the U.S. and Europe.
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The incidence and spread of HAV is directly related to poor personal and social hygiene and is a serious problem not only in developing countries where sanitation and water purification standards are poor, but also in developed, industrialized nations—including the United States, where it accounts for 30% of all incidences of clinical hepatitis. Except in 1% to 4% of cases where sudden live…
Symptoms are similar to those manifested by HAV and may include weight loss, muscle aches, headaches, flu-like symptoms, mild temperature elevation, and constipation or diarrhea. By the time jaundice appears, which is often quite noticeable and prolonged in older women, the patient may feel somewhat better overall but the urine becomes dark, stools light or yellowish, the liver and possibly the sp…
Acute HBV is the greatest cause of viral hepatitis throughout the world. World Health Organization figures released in 1992 indicate that as many as 350 million people worldwide carry the highly infectious HBV. Because of its severity and often lengthy duration, coupled with the lack of any effective treatment, 40% of those carriers—possibly as many as two million per year—will event…
Little is currently known about a relatively recently discovered hepatitis virus, G. HGV appears to be passed through contaminated blood, as is HCV. In fact, many infections with HVG occur in people already infected with HCV. HGV, however, does not seem to change the disease course in people infected with both HCV and HGV. In cases of isolated HGV infection, little liver injury is noted, and there…
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