Hepatitis

Hepatitis is an inflammatory disease of the liver usually due to infection with one of the five hepatitis viruses, A,B,C,D and E. All of these viruses can cause acute disease, the following symptoms of which last for several weeks: yellowing of the skin and eye (jaundice), dark urine, extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. It sometimes takes several months or even a year to resolve.

Some viruses can result in patients becoming chronic carriers: a person never removes the virus and can develop cirrhosis or liver cancer many years later. The hepatitis B virus causes the most serious viral hepatitis although this is also the only type of virus causing chronic hepatitis for which we have a vaccine.