hepatitis Definition

inflammation of the liver

a disease or condition (such as hepatitis A or hepatitis B) marked by inflammation of the liver

an acute usually benign hepatitis that is caused by a picornavirus (species Hepatitis A virus of the genus Hepatovirus), is marked by fatigue, fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, darkened urine, and jaundice but may be asymptomatic, especially in children, and is transmitted especially in food and water contaminated with infected fecal matter —called also infectious hepatitis

an acute or chronic hepatitis that is caused by a DNA virus (species Hepatitis B virus of the genus Orthohepadnavirus, family Hepadnaviridae), is marked chiefly by fatigue, fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, darkened urine, jaundice, and joint pain but may be asymptomatic, and is transmitted especially by contact with infected blood (as by transfusion or by sharing contaminated needles in illicit intravenous drug use) or by contact with other infected bodily fluids (such as semen) —called also serum hepatitis

an acute or chronic hepatitis that is caused by a flavivirus (species Hepatitis C virus of the genus Hepacivirus), is often asymptomatic in its early stages but may be marked by fatigue, fever, nausea, loss of appetite, abdominal tenderness, and muscle and joint pain, and is usually transmitted by infected blood (such as by injection of an illicit drug, blood transfusion, or exposure to blood or blood products)

an acute or chronic hepatitis that is caused by the hepatitis D virus, is marked chiefly by fatigue, fever, nausea, loss of appetite, and jaundice, and is transmitted especially by contact with infected blood (as by transfusion or by sharing contaminated needles in illicit intravenous drug use) or by contact with other infected body fluids (such as semen) —called also delta hepatitis

a single-stranded RNA virus (species Hepatitis delta virus of the genus Deltavirus) that lacks an outer protein coat and is the causative agent of hepatitis D —abbreviation HDV—called also delta agent, delta virus

an acute hepatitis that is caused by a highly variable single-stranded RNA virus (species Hepatitis E virus of the genus Hepevirus), is marked chiefly by fatigue, fever, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and abdominal pain, is usually contracted from sewage-contaminated water, and is rare in the United States but is common in some tropical developing countries

hepatitis d

hepatitis a

hepatitis clinically similar to hepatitis A and hepatitis B but caused by a different virus; especially : hepatitis c