Slide The characteristic rash of both shingles and chicken pox is primarily from the inflammatory response to the presense of the virus. Less toxicity to human cells because their replication rate is much slower than the viral particles. Hepadnaviruses some of these viruses cause hepatitis , which means inflammation of the liver. There are many viruses with specificity for liver cells, therefore there are many viruses that cause hepatitis. Of all the hepatitis viruses, there is only one DNA virus, Hepatitis B virus .
All hepatitis viruses cause chronic inflammation of the liver.
This inflammation causes swelling and eventual scaring so the liver doesn't fuction properly in removing wastes and metabolizing nutrients. Hepatitis B - wierd, partially single stranded genome. The virus can't be cultured. There is a fairly effective recombinant vaccine which is important since the virus is transmitted through infected blood, but since hepatitis B can be sexually transmitted , eradication is not a likely possibilty. STD's are hard to eradicate.