Hepatitis A, B, and C

 

VIRUS	HEPATITIS A	HEPATITIS B	HEPATITIS C
Transmission Route	Fecal-oral	Infected needle or blood, sexual contact	Infected needle or blood, sexual contact
Incubation Time (acute infection)	15-50 days	45-160 days	14-180 days
Onset	Sudden	Either sudden or slow, unnoticed	Usually slow, unnoticed
Severity	Mild	Occasionally severe	Usually slow-developing and symptoms not specific or strong
Chronic form?	No	Yes	Yes
Associated with other diseases?	None	Liver cancer, cirrhosis	Liver cancer, cirrhosis
Testing to Diagnose Acute Infection	HAV-Ab, IgM	HBsAg, Anti-HBc, IgM	Anti-HCV, HCV RNA (note – may have same results as in chronic hepatitis)
Testing to Diagnose Chronic Infection or to Monitor Treatment	N/A	HbsAg, HBV DNA, HBeAg, anti-HBe	Anti-HCV (once) HCV RNA or viral load, HCV genotype (once)
Tests that detect previous infection	HAV-Ab, IgG	Anti-HBs, Anti-HBc total	Anti-HCV
Vaccine available?	Yes	Yes	No
Common treatment	None	Chronic form – Interferon, lamivudine, adefovir	Chronic form – Interferon (usually with ribavirin)

Abbreviations Defined

HAV-Ab = Hepatitis A Antibody
Anti-HBs = Hepatitis B surface antibody
HBsAg = Hepatitis B surface antigen
HBeAg = Hepatitis B e-antigen
Anti-HBe = Hepatitis B e-antibody
Anti-HBc = Anti-hepatitis B core antigen
HBV DNA = Hepatitis B Virus (test for virus genetic material)
Anti-HCV = Hepatitis C Antibody
HCV RNA = Hepatitis C Virus (test for virus genetic material)
HCV Viral Load = A detection and/or count of the amount of virus in the blood
HCV Genotype = Determines the type of Hepatitis C present (1 of 6 types)