Infectious Hepatitis

Infectious hepatitis is an infectious disease caused by a virus. Formerly the condition was simply called jaundice; now we know that catarrhal jaundice is produced by an inflammation of the liver resulting from an attack by the virus which is specific for that disease. Epidemiologists believe that the virus gets into the human being by two possible routes: 1) by inhaling a droplet from the throat coughed into the air by people who are infected, and 2) by consuming contaminated food or water.


A similar condition called homologous serum jaundice follows the injection of blood or serum from certain donors who harbor a virus that attacks the liver. This type of jaundice has a longer incubation period than infectious hepatitis-namely, from 50 to 140 days after the transfusion, compared to 25 or 46 days after receiving the virus by the routes previously mentioned.
Since the use of one syringe and a different needle for each person in a series of mass injections has been shown to be involved sometimes in causing homologous serum jaundice, doctors urge the only sure way to prevent this is to provide a heat-sterilized needle and a separate syringe for each person. Usually infectious jaundice causes gastrointestinal trouble, including nausea and loss of appetite, occasionally with fever, before the jaundice which is characteristic of this condition first appears. Symptoms include some upper abdominal pain on the right side and a loss of appetite associated with nausea. Vomiting and diarrhea occur in about one-fifth of the cases. Occasionally the liver is found to be enlarged and tender.