This virus is transmitted by infected body fluids including blood, saliva, tears, seminal fluid, breast milk, sexual contact and perinatal transmission. More than 200 million hepatitis B carriers in the world constitute the main source of hepatitis B in humans. The incubation period is from 30 to 180 days. The range of symptoms runs the gamut from asymptomatic to profoundly ill with jaundice, liver and spleen enlargement, and weight loss. Approximately one-third of hepatitis B patients are associated with hepatitis D also, which usually accelerates the overall severity.
Treatment is supportive since no specific medication is available.
Liver transplantation can be an option in some cases. Hepatitis C virus infection is the most common chronic blood borne infection, and the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States. It is spread by direct contact with infected blood. There have been sporadic cases reported in people with tatoos and body piercing, health workers exposed to hepatitis with infected blood through accidental needle sticks or open sores, and neonates born to infected mothers. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, and the virus is currently difficult to treat.