Viral Hepatitis

Abstract

Background: The primary goals of conducting surveillance for viral hepatitis are to direct prevention and control activities for these diseases and to evaluate the impact of these activities. Any person with a hepatitis virus infection is a potential source of infection to others. Surveillance would help accomplish the goals by providing information on:
 
 Creating a network of laboratories for diagnosis of viral hepatitis. 2. Monitor trends in incidence of and risk factors for disease.
 Assess burden of disease 4. Identify infected persons requiring counseling and /or post exposure prophylaxis. 5. Identify and control outbreaks.
 
 Methodology: Laboratory based targeted sousveillance in sentinel geographical regions/population. Clinical Case Definition: An acute illness with discrete onset of symptoms (e.g., fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, intermittent nausea, vomiting), and jaundice. (sourcewww.cdc.gov.in) NCDC will be the nodal agency for implementation of the project.
 Results: HBV, HCV and HDV are transmitted through contaminated blood or blood components or through the use of contaminated needles and syringes. In several populations, a common route of transmission of HBV infection is from infected pregnant women to their infants around the time of delivery. In many people with HBV or HCV infection, no route of transmission can be identified. In addition, specific vaccines and/or passive immune prophylaxis (use of specific immunoglobulin products) are also useful in preventing transmission of some infections. and also HAV vaccine is the most effective method for specific pre-exposure prophylaxis. and two different vaccines based on inactivated cell culture are available. Both vaccines are highly antigenic, especially in adults, and induce protective antibody levels in more than 95% of recipients after the first dose of vaccine. Individuals at high risk of repeated exposure to HBV, such as personnel Health Care Anti-HBs titer should be evaluated one month after the third dose. An Anti-HBs titer of 10 IU/L (or 10 mIU/mL) is protective. After reaching this titer, there is no need for further booster doses.
 Conclusion: Viral hepatitis is a systemic infection affecting predominantly the liver and causing its inflammation. It may be acute (recent infection, relatively rapid onset) or chronic. Viral hepatitis is caused by infection with one of the five known hepatotropic viruses, which are named as hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis D virus (HDV), and hepatitis E virus (HEV), respectively. These viruses are quite divergent in their structure, epidemiology, routes of transmission, incubation period, clinical presentations, natural history, diagnosis, and preventive and treatment options.