Like most autoimmune diseases, this form of hepatitis is more common in young to middle-aged women, and other autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis are more common in people with hepatitis and their relatives. A tendency to develop autoimmune hepatitis, as well as other autoimmune diseases, is inherited. The hepatitis may develop rapidly or slowly. Common early symptoms are fatigue, loss of appetite, jaundice, and loss of menstrual periods. Blood tests will typically reveal a high level of globulins in the blood.
Globulins are the blood proteins that carry antibodies.
Also elevated are the liver enzyme levels, usually referred to as SGOT and SGPT, which are indicative of liver-cell damage. These enzymes are elevated in all forms of active hepatitis. A liver biopsy will be necessary to determine the amount of damage that has occurred. Some people will not progress rapidly and may never develop cirrhosis, but others can rapidly develop this complication. I suspect that your daughter's friend developed cirrhosis, which led to her liver transplant.