What is Hepatitis A?
The Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a member of the picornavirus family, which invades liver cells and causes inflammation. Considered the least serious of all hepatitis viruses, HAV does not cause chronic liver disease. This disease usually lasts no longer than six months. Cirrhosis and its complications, as well as liver cancer, do not occur from contracting HAV. Fortunately, Hepatitis A is the most common vaccine-preventable disease in the entire world, and those who get HAV develop immunity from ever contracting it again.What is Hepatitis B?
Hepatitis B is inflammation of the liver due to a virus called the Hepatitis B virus (HBV), belonging to the family hepadnaviridae. Originally known as serum hepatitis, HBV was the first hepatitis virus to be identified. It is preventable with safe and effective vaccines that have been available since 1982. According to the World Health Organization, of the approximately 2 billion people worldwide who have been infected with the Hepatitis B virus, more than 350 million have chronic (lifelong) infections. Approximately 1.25 million of those infected with the Hepatitis B virus live in the United States. These chronically infected persons are at high risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer, diseases that kill about 1 million people worldwide each year.The Centers for Disease Control attribute the Hepatitis B vaccine to the decline of new infections per year in the United States, from an estimated 260,000 in the 1980s to about 73,000 in 2003. The greatest decline has happened among children and adolescents due to routine Hepatitis B vaccination. Of the 1.25 million chronically infected Americans, 20 to 30 percent acquired their infection in childhood.
What is Hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a spherical, enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the family flaviviridae. Discovered in 1989, HCV explained 90 percent of non-A non-B (NANB) cases of hepatitis.- Hepatitis C virus is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the United States and the prevalence of Hepatitis C virus infection is increasing worldwide.
- The World Health Organization estimates that more than 170 million individuals throughout the world are infected with HCV.
- The Centers for Disease Control estimate that 3.9 million (1.8 percent) of Americans have been infected with Hepatitis C, of whom 2.7 million are chronically infected.
- Infection due to the Hepatitis C virus accounts for 20 percent of all cases of acute hepatitis, an estimated 25,000 new acute infections and 8,000-12,000 deaths each year in the United States.
- Medical care costs associated with the treatment of HCV infection in the United States are estimated to be more than $600 million per year.
- Although the number of new HCV infections has declined over the last 20 or more years, chronic Hepatitis C is the most common reason that a person will need to undergo a liver transplant in the US