HEPATITIS A, B and C

Report #6842 7/4/96

When you go to your doctor and complain of tiredness and sore muscles, you usually get liver function tests. You should also get blood tests for hepatitis B and C because many people who suffer from chronic hepatitis have normal liver function tests (1).

Doctors test for three hepatitis viruses and will test for more in the near future. All people who recover from hepatitis A get rid of the virus permanently. However, 10% of those who develop hepatitis B and almost 100% of those who develop hepatitis C keep the virus forever. Chronic carriers may appear to recover because they regain some of their strength/ and their fevers and sick feelings may go away. Some will continue to suffer muscle and joint pains and some may even have false positive blood tests for rheumatoid arthritis (2). It is extremely important that all people who have chronic hepatitis B or C be diagnosed correctly and be treated for that condition. Treating a person with immune suppressants for rheumatoid arthritis when he really has hepatitis C can cause permanent liver damage, and not treating hepatitis B and C can cause liver cancer and permanent liver damage (3). Until recently, doctors had a dependable blood test to diagnose only hepatitis B. Now, there is also a dependable blood test for active hepatitis C, called hepatitis C RNA. The blood tests for hepatitis B are called hepatitis B surface antigen and core antibody. Both hepatitis B and C are acquired through exposure to infected blood and semen. Hepatitis C is acquired most frequently from infected needles. You treat yourself by injecting interferon three times a week for at least 6 months.(4,5)

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News