What kind of inflammation is viral hepatitis?

Liver disease is a very terrible series of diseases that cause extremely serious health damage to people's bodies. Some liver diseases are highly contagious and can lead to mass epidemics. Viral hepatitis is a typical symptom. It is very harmful and difficult to treat. It is one of the diseases that people are very afraid of. Let’s take a look at what kind of inflammation viral hepatitis is.

Viral hepatitis is an infectious disease characterized by liver lesions and caused by a variety of hepatitis viruses. The main clinical manifestations are loss of appetite, nausea, upper abdominal discomfort, pain in the liver area, and fatigue. Some patients may have jaundice, fever, and hepatomegaly accompanied by liver damage. Some patients may develop chronic disease and even cirrhosis, and a few may develop liver cancer.

Causes

The etiological classification of viral hepatitis currently has five recognized hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E, which are written as HAV, HBV, HCV, HDV, and HEV respectively. Except for hepatitis B virus, which is a DNA virus, the rest are RNA viruses. Hepatitis H has been reported, but the pathogen has not been successfully isolated so far. Recent reports have shown that the relationship between the flavivirus hepatitis G virus and the single-stranded DNA TTV and human hepatitis is still controversial.

Antiviral therapy

Acute hepatitis generally does not require antiviral treatment. Early use of interferon is recommended only in acute hepatitis C to prevent chronicity, while chronic viral hepatitis requires antiviral treatment.

① Interferon: Recombinant DNA leukocyte interferon (IFN-α) can inhibit the replication of HBV. Only 30% to 50% of patients achieve lasting effects after intramuscular injection every other day for 6 consecutive months. The drug of choice for hepatitis C is interferon, which can be used in combination with ribavirin.

② Lamivudine: It is a synthetic dideoxycytidine nucleoside drug with anti-HBV effect. Oral administration of lamivudine can significantly reduce serum HBV-DNA levels, and the HBV-DNA negative conversion rate reaches more than 90% after 12 weeks of medication. Long-term use of the drug can reduce ALT and improve liver inflammation, but the HBeAg negative conversion rate is only 16% to 18%. HBV mutations may occur after treatment for more than 6 months, but the drug can still be continued. If the side effects are mild, it can be continued for 1 to 4 years.

③Famciclovir : It is a guanosine drug with a long half-life and high intracellular concentration, which can inhibit the replication of HBV-DNA. This drug has mild side effects and can be used in combination with lamivudine, interferon, etc. to improve efficacy.

④ Other anti-disease drugs: such as acyclovir, adefovir, sodium foscarnet, etc. all have a certain effect in inhibiting HBV.