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Hepatitis Types, Causes & Symptoms


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About Hepatitus
Hepatitis
(plural hepatitides) is a condition that affects the liver. The name itself is from the Greek and literally means “inflammation of the liver”. If Hepatitis lasts for more than six months it is deemed to be chronic hepatitis and if less than this is know as acute hepatitis.

Hepatitis can be caused by a number of things, there are a group of viruses (know as the hepatitis viruses) that cause most instances of the condition world wide or it can be brought on by toxins such as alcohol. Hepatitis can also be induced as an effect of other viruses affecting the autoimmune system, conditions like HIV for instance can lead to hepatitis.

Hepatitis can run unnoticed by the person suffering from the condition, indeed they may not even feel ill. Healing of hepatitis can often happen on its own though the scaring to the liver usually persists even after the active agent is gone.

Signs and Symptoms of Hepatitis
Symptoms of hepatitis include the patient feeling generally unwell, symptomatic when the disease impairs liver functions that include, among other things, removal of harmful substances, regulation of blood composition, and production of bile to help digestion.

Acute Hepatitis
Clinically, the course of acute hepatitis varies widely from mild symptoms requiring no treatment to fulminant hepatic failure needing liver transplantation. Acute viral hepatitis is more likely to be found in younger people. Hepatitis after a convalescent stage of 7 to 10 days initially will suffer the main effects if the illness lasting 2 to 6 weeks.

Often experienced are flu-like symptoms, common to almost all viral infections and may include malaise, muscle and joint aches, fever, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, and headache.

More specific symptoms, which can be present in acute hepatitis from any cause, are: profound loss of appetite, aversion to smoking among smokers, dark urine, yellowing of the eyes and skin (i.e., jaundice) and abdominal discomfort.

Chronic Hepatitis
Majority of patients will remain asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, abnormal blood tests being the only manifestation. Features may be related to the extent of liver damage or the cause of hepatitis.

Many experience return of symptoms related to acute hepatitis. Jaundice can be a late feature and may indicate extensive damage. Other features include abdominal fullness from enlarged liver or spleen, low grade fever and fluid retention. Extensive damage and scarring of liver (called cirrhosis of the liver) leads to weight loss, easy bruising and a tendency to bleed easily.

Acne, abnormal menstruation, lung scarring, inflammation of the thyroid gland and kidneys may be present in women suffering autoimmune hepatitis.

Summary of Acute Hepatitis Causes
  • Viral Hepatitis: Hepatitis A through E (more than 95% of viral cause), Herpes simplex, Cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr, yellow fever virus, adenoviruses.
  • Non viral infection: toxoplasma, Leptospira, Q fever, rocky mountain spotted fever
  • Alcohol
  • Toxins: Amanita toxin in mushrooms, carbon tetrachloride, asafetida
  • Drugs: Paracetamol, amoxycillin, antituberculosis medicines, minocycline and many others (see longer list below).
  • Ischemic hepatitis (circulatory insufficiency)
  • Pregnancy
  • Auto immune conditions, e.g. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
  • Metabolic diseases, e.g. Wilson's disease

Summary of Chronic Hepatitis Causes
  • Viral hepatitis: Hepatitis B with or without hepatitis D, hepatitis C (Hepatitis A and E do not lead to chronic disease)
  • Autoimmune: Autoimmune hepatitis
  • Alcohol
  • Drugs: methyldopa, nitrofurantoin, isoniazid, ketoconazole
  • Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
  • Heredity: Wilson's disease, alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency
  • Primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis occasionally mimic chronic hepatitis

Types of Hepatitis

Viral Hepatitis

Most cases of acute hepatitis are due to viral infections, these include:

  • Hepatitis A
  • Hepatitis B
  • Hepatitis C
  • Hepatitis B with D
  • Hepatitis E
  • Hepatitis F virus (existence unknown)
  • Hepatitis G, or GBV-C
  • In addition to the hepatitis viruses (please note that the hepatitis viruses are not all related), other viruses can also cause hepatitis, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, yellow fever, etc.

Other viral causes of Hepatitis

  • Mumps virus
  • Rubella virus
  • Cytomegalovirus
  • Epstein-Barr virus
  • Other herpes viruses

We strive to provide only quality articles, so if there is a specific topic related to hepatitis that you would like us to cover, please contact us at any time.

And again, thank you to those contributing daily to our hepatitis website.

TheTeam@awareness-guide.com

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