Hepatitis

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that can lead to a number of health problems, some of which can be fatal. Although it is caused by infection with a virus of which five main strains are known, known as types A, B, C, D and E, all of which cause liver disease, these strains have very different characteristics, particularly in terms of modes of transmission and disease severity. In particular, types B and C cause chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people, and together constitute the most frequent cause of liver cirrhosis, cancer and death from viral hepatitis.