The biology and pathogenesis of hepatitis viruses

Kumar, Vijay and Das, Saumitra and Jameel, Shahid (2010) The biology and pathogenesis of hepatitis viruses. In: Current Science (Bangalore), 98 (3). pp. 312-325.

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Abstract

Viral hepatitis is caused mainly by infection with one of the five hepatitis viruses, which use the liver as their primary site of replication. Each of these, known as hepatitis A through E viruses (HAV to HEV), belong to different virus families, have unique morphology, genomic organization and replication strategy. These viruses cause similar clinical manifestations during the acute phase of infection but vary in their ability to cause chronic infection. While HAV and HEV cause only acute disease with no chronic sequelae, HBV, HCV and HDV cause varying degrees of chronicity and liver injury, which can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancers. Though specific serological tests are available for the known hepatitis viruses, nearly 20% of all hepatitis cases show no markers. Antiviral therapy is also recommended for some hepatitis viruses and a preventive vaccine is available only for hepatitis B. More research and public awareness programmes are needed to control the disease. This review will provide an overview of the hepatitis viruses and the disease they cause.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Current Science (Bangalore)
Publisher:	Indian Academy of Sciences
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Indian Academy of Sciences.
Keywords:	Anti-viral therapy; hepatocellular carcinoma; hepatitis viruses; interferon therapy; vaccine
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Microbiology & Cell Biology
Date Deposited:	11 Jun 2010 06:11
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 05:59
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/27042

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