http://edcp.org/edcp/pdf_factsheets/HEPATITIS A.pdf The hepatitis A virus causes an infection of the liver.
The symptoms start about 4 weeks after infection (with a range of 2 to
6 weeks).
About half of the adults who catch hepatitis A get sick, and usually feel
ill for about 2 weeks (sometimes longer).
Vaccination is the best way to protect against hepatitis A before you
get exposed.
If you or people in your family have these symptoms, if you have been
in close contact with someone who has hepatitis A, or if you want to get
hepatitis A vaccine, call your doctor or your local health department.
AIH
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic, progressive, heterogeneous
inflammatory liver disease of unknown etiol-ogy.1-6 Diagnosis is often
difficult since there is no single diagnostic test for AIH and presenting
symptoms can be quite varied.1-6 Diagnosis requires evaluation of clinical,
laboratory, and histological findings as well as the exclusion of other
causes of chronic hepatitis.1-6 Diagnosis is particularly difficult for
patients classified with cryptogenic hepatitis, which is described as
having an undefined chronic hepatitis without antibodies to viral or the
conventional profile of autoimmune markers.1-2 Early diagnosis of AIH
and immunosuppressive treatment are essential in preventing severe liver
damage.
glutathione S transferase gene family are antigens in autoimmune hepatitis.
asl-688
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ipic/reports/00swinereports/asl-688.pdf Swine hepatitis E virus (HEV) was detected by a semiquantitative
reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in liver tissue
and feces but not in skeletal muscle, pancreas, or heart from pigs experimentally
infected intravenously with swine hepatitis E virus (swine HEV).
Homogenates of liver tissue and suspensions of feces prepared from swine
HEV-infected pigs were inoculated intravenously into naïve pigs and
induced infection.
There was no evidence of transmission of swine HEV to pigs by intravenous
route of inoculation with heart or pancreas, or oral route with skeletal
muscle homogenates or fecal suspensions prepared from HEV-infected pigs.
Seventy-five, 2-week-old pigs were randomly separated into 24 groups of
3 to 4 pigs and inoculated with tissue homogenates (liver, heart, pancreas,
or skeletal muscle) or a suspension of feces collected from swine HEV-infected
pigs at 3, 7, 14, 20, 27, or 55 days post inoculation (DPI).
viralhep
http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/pharmacy/pharm562/Week
1/viralhep.pdf Maintain viral, biochemical and histologic improvement despite
resistance.
Two other studies failed to show benefit of combination therapy.
Schiffet al. 1998 (abstract) and Schalm et al. 2000.
US & International Multicenter Trials (N=345) Cheng et al Hepatology
2001;33:231-40 Shiffman et al.
Enriquez et al. J Viral Hep 2000;7:403-8.
dsp_42706
HCV genotype 1b into a commercial product requires a license
from Ambion, Inc. Catalog number:
While the source material tested negative for HIV and HCV by PCR and non-reactive
for viral markers, HIVAg, HIV1/2, HCV, HBsAg and syphillis, no known test
method can offer absolute assurance that products derived from human blood
will not transmit infectious diseases.
Armored RNA® technology is a system for producing robust, ribonuclease-resistant
RNA controls and standards by assembling specific RNA sequences and viral
coat proteins into pseudo-viral particles (DuBois, 1999).
The RNA can be extracted from the viral coat protein using the same methods
used to extract HIV or HCV RNA or simply by incubating Armored RNA at
75oC for 3 minutes to release the RNA from the particles.
http://www.medelite.com/docs/declination_statement.pdf I am signing the following statement of declination of hepatitis
B vaccination because I choose not to accept the vaccine.
I have received appropriate training regarding hepatitis B, hepatitis
B vaccination, the efficacy, safety, method of administration, and benefits
of vaccination.
In addition, I have thoroughly read the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) information booklet on Occupational
Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens, publication OSHA 3127.
I understand that due to my occupational exposure to blood or other potentially
infectious materials I may be at risk of acquiring hepatitis B virus (HBV)
infection.
If in the future I continue to have occupational exposure to blood or
other potentially infectious materials and I want to be vaccinated with
hepatitis B vaccine, I can receive the vaccination series at any time.
34c
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the main cause of parenteral non-A/non-B
hepatitis and was the major agent causing post-transfusion hepatitis.
HCV has a positive single stranded RNA genome of about 9,500 nucleotides
in length and shows similarities to the genome organization of flavi and
pesti viruses.
HCV infection starts frequently without clinical symptoms, and progresses
in the majority of patients (70 to 85%) to persistent viremia and chronic
hepatitis including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
This include age at infection, viral type/subtype, viral load, quasi species,
male/female, and mode of transmission (EASL 1999).
Among 710 Irish women with HCV antibodies only 55% had chronic viremic
hepatitis C and 2% cirrhosis, after 17 years 190 Transmission of Hepatitis
C M Roggendorf et al.
ce_22_6
http://www.dph.state.ct.us/Publications/BCH/Infectious
Diseases/ce_22_6.pdf In our last issue of the Connecticut Epidemiologist Newsletter,
we requested that people interested in receiving the newsletter electronically
should subscribe by sending an email message to imailsrv@list.state.ct.us
with a MESSAGE BODY of "subscribe cteipnews Firstname Lastname".
The incidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in health care personnel
(HCP) has decreased in recent years.
Hepatitis B vaccination is recommended by both the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational and Safety Health Act
(OSHA) for HCP at risk for occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens
(1-5).
In 1991, bloodborne pathogens regulations issued under the OSHA mandated
employers, as part of a comprehensive plan to reduce occupational exposure
to bloodborne pathogens, to make hepatitis B vaccine available to at-risk
HCP.
appd
http://www.uthscsa.edu/safety/exposure/appd.pdf I, the undersigned, acknowledge that my employer, The University
of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, has offered the hepatitis
B virus (HBV) vaccine to me at no cost.
I have been informed of the biological hazards that exist in my workplace,
and I understand the risks of exposure to blood or other potentially infectious
materials involved with my job.
I understand that due to my occupational exposure to blood or other potentially
infectious materials I may be at risk of acquiring hepatitis B virus (HBV)
infection.
If in the future I continue to have occupational exposure to blood or
other potentially infectious materials and I want to be vaccinated with
hepatitis B vaccine, I can receive the vaccination series at no charge
to me.
7609r1
Serologic assays for diagnosis of hepatitis C infection may
yield indeterminate results despite improvements in sensitivity and specificity
through second- and third-generation assays.
Direct detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA based on qualitative reverse
transcription--polymerase chain reaction or transcription-mediated amplification
allows diagnosis in the early stages of acute infection and in patients
unable to mount an antibody response.
Currently, a number of assays are being used to determine viral load.
The first of these methods is quantitative RT-PCR, which has been used
in numerous laboratories during recent years.
Algorithm for the diagnosis and monitoring of hepatitis C virus (HCV)
infection.
oct00
Hepatitis, a term used for inflammation of the liver, results
in acute or chronic disease.
In South Africa, Hepatitis A (HAV) and Hepatitis B (HBV) are endemic (Prozesky
et al 1984) and result in a great burden of disease and infection.
Active surveillance is conducted by the National Institute of Virology
(NIV) who compile monthly reports on HAV, HBV, HCV and HEV positive laboratory
results.
Information for Health Workers about the disease and the vaccine.
Epidemiology, control, and prevention of hepatitis B: Implications for
eastern and southern Africa.
Thanks to Prof Schoub for his comments and assistance with this document.
HepatitisB
Hepatitis B vaccination is now part of the childhood immunisation
schedule and is recommended for all children.
To reduce the number of injections a child needs, hepatitis B vaccine
is now included with the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine for
babies born after May 1, 2000, living in NSW, Qld, NT, ACT and SA.
There is an urgent need to control the pool of hepatitis B carriers due
to the severity of the disease as it progresses.
The WHO estimates that hepatitis B infection results in more than one
million deaths every year.
It recommends all countries incorporate the vaccine into their routine
immunisation programs to prevent increasing the number of chronic carriers.
blumberg-lecture
http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1976/blumberg-lecture.pdf The discovery of the infectious agent associated with hepatitis
B and the elucidation of new mechanisms for its dissemination are the
consequences of a series of studies involving many investigators in our
laboratory in Philadelphia.
We immediately stopped the experimental study and established the practice
of excluding donor bloods with Australia antigens in the hospitals where
we were testing donor units.
HBcAg itself has not been identified in the peripheral blood.
Anti-HBc is also found commonly during the active phase of acute hepatitis,
before the development of anti-HBs but in general does not persist as
long as anti-Hbs.
If this is true then the antigenic makeup of the virus would be, at least
in part, a consequence of the antigenic characteristics of the host from
whence it came; and this, as suggested by our studies, may include
male antigens.
mol-1079
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/molgen/members/Shaul/mol-1079.pdf Transactivation by hepatitis B virus X protein (pX) is promiscuous,
but it requires cellular activators.
The response to pX correlated with the strength of the activation domain.
HepatitisBvirus(HBV)isasmallDNAvirusthatreplicates like a retrovirus by
reverse transcription (for a review, see reference27).Despiteitssmallsize,theHBVgenomecontains
at least three distinct promoters, all of which seem to be regulatedbytheviralenhancer(73).Fourdifferentspeciesofviral
mRNAwereidentified.Thesmallestone,of0.9kb,codesfor a154-amino-acidpolypeptidecalledpX.ThesequenceofpX
isconservedamongmembersoftheHepadnaviridaethatinfect mammals and has been
shown to be expressed during viral infection(38,57,75)andtobeessentialforthevirallifecycle
(14,90).TheexactroleofpX,however,remainedobscure.A possible clue to pX
function came from the finding that this proteinhasacapacitytostimulatetranscriptionofavarietyof
viralenhancer-promoterunits,aswellascellulargenes.These include enhancers
of the following: HBV (7, 24, 76), human immunodeficiency virus (75, 81),
Rous sarcoma virus (76), simian virus 40 (SV40) (47, 71, 76), c- myc,c-fos(4,
5), c- jun (82),majorhistocompatibilitycomplexclassI,intercellularcell
adhesionmolecule,interleukin-8(34,35,47,51,88),andeven RNA polymerase
III promoters (3).
2.Aronheim,A.,R.Shiran,A.Rosen,andM.D.Walker.1993.TheE2Agene product contains
two separable and functionally distinct transcription acti-vationdomains.Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.USA90:8063--8067.
1992. The hepatitis B virus X protein transactivation of c-fos and c-myc
proto-oncogenes is mediated by multiple transcrip-tionfactors.Arch.Virol.Suppl.4:57--61.
