Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T20:57:08.151Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - Viral Hepatitis

from Part I - Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2009

By
Ramin Jamshidi  and
Francis Yao
Edited by
Rachel L. Chin
Ramin Jamshidi
Affiliation:
Adjunct Professor of Physics University of San Francisco, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
Francis Yao
Affiliation:
Professor of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Associate Medical Director, Liver Transplantation University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
Rachel L. Chin
Affiliation:
University of California, San Francisco
Get access

Summary

INTRODUCTION

A number of viruses have been found to primarily infect hepatocytes, though not all cause clinically relevant disease. The classically recognized hepatotropic viruses are the hepatitis A, B, C, D, E, and G viruses. Of clinically apparent acute and chronic hepatitis, 10% to 20% is cryptogenic in nature and is thought to be caused by as yet unidentified viruses.

EPIDEMIOLOGY

Hepatitis viruses A and E are transmitted via the fecal-oral route, whereas B, C, and D are spread primarily via contact with infected blood or other body fluid. Hepatitis G is transferred by either route, but is not proven to cause clinical disease. Fecal-oral transmission of the A and E viruses is responsible for most acute outbreaks, whereas B and C constitute a major chronic public health burden.

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection accounts for approximately 25,000 cases of acute hepatitis annually in the United States, with as many as 40% of the urban population having serologic evidence of past infection. Outbreaks often affect clusters of persons exposed to a single source, such as a food handler or contaminated central water supply.

Persons infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) carry the virus in all bodily fluids (blood, breast milk, saliva, semen, and urine). HBV can cause both acute and chronic hepatitis, the latter conferring risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. It is estimated that 200 million people worldwide are chronically infected with HBV.

Type
Chapter
Information
Emergency Management of Infectious Diseases , pp. 59 - 64
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Dienstag, J L, McHutchison, J G. American gastroenterological association technical review on the management of hepatitis C. Gastroenterology 2006;130(1):231–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox R K, Wright T L. Viral hepatitis. In: Friedman, S, ed. Current diagnosis & treatment in gastroenterology, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003.Google Scholar
Ganem, D, Prince, A. Hepatitis B virus infection – natural history and clinical consequences. N Engl J Med 2004;350(11):1118–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menon, K V N. Non-a to e hepatitis. Curr Opin Infect Dis 2002;15:529–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Navarro, V J, Senior, J R. Drug-related hepatotoxicity. N Engl J Med 2006;354(7):731–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pawlotsky, J M. Molecular diagnosis of viral hepatitis. Gastroenterology 2002;122(6):1554–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, S E, Goldacre, M J, Yeates, D. Trends in mortality after hospital admission for liver cirrhosis in an English population. Gut 2005;54(11):1615–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sookian, S. Liver disease during pregnancy: acute viral hepatitis. Ann Hepatol 2006;5(3):231–6.Google Scholar
Davern T J. Fulminant hepatic failure. In: Bayless, T M, Diehl, A M eds. Advanced therapy in gastroenterology and liver disease, 5th ed. Ontario: BC Decker, 2006:629–37.Google Scholar
Pratt, D S, Kaplan, M M. Evaluation of abnormal liver-enzyme results in asymptomatic patients. N Engl J Med 2000;342(17): 1266–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Viral Hepatitis
    • By Ramin Jamshidi, Adjunct Professor of Physics University of San Francisco, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, Francis Yao, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Associate Medical Director, Liver Transplantation University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
  • Edited by Rachel L. Chin, University of California, San Francisco
  • Book: Emergency Management of Infectious Diseases
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511547454.014
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Viral Hepatitis
    • By Ramin Jamshidi, Adjunct Professor of Physics University of San Francisco, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, Francis Yao, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Associate Medical Director, Liver Transplantation University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
  • Edited by Rachel L. Chin, University of California, San Francisco
  • Book: Emergency Management of Infectious Diseases
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511547454.014
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Viral Hepatitis
    • By Ramin Jamshidi, Adjunct Professor of Physics University of San Francisco, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, Francis Yao, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Associate Medical Director, Liver Transplantation University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA
  • Edited by Rachel L. Chin, University of California, San Francisco
  • Book: Emergency Management of Infectious Diseases
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511547454.014
Available formats
×