Sexual Health | Viral hepatitis | The Presentation of Infectious Hepatitis

The Presentation of Infectious Hepatitis
Session Overview
Description
This sessions describes the basic approach to be taken with someone with infectious hepatitis: the history, the examination and baseline investigations.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Describe the different causes of hepatitis
• Relate the common symptoms associated with both acute and chronic hepatitis infection
• Identify the main risk factors for someone acquiring infectious hepatitis
• Recognise the common physical signs associated with both acute and chronic infection
• Select the investigations you would need to make in order to diagnose hepatitis
• Select the investigations you would need to make to differentiate between the different causes of hepatitis

Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver, leading to destruction of liver cells and the presence of inflammatory cells in the liver tissue.

The symptoms and signs associated with hepatitis can vary between individuals, and vary in duration of infection. Hepatitis of six months or less is classified as acute, whilst if greater than six months, it is considered chronic.

World wide hepatitis is very common and can be due to a variety of different causes. Generally, in the UK, people develop hepatitis through infection by viruses, or as a result of substances that can cause hepatitis - alcohol and certain medicines. In the case of medication, this is commonly through overdose (e.g. paracetamol) or as a result of an abnormal reaction.