Viral Hepatitis Flashcards
Which hepatitis virus is a double-stranded DNA hepadnavirus?
Hepatitis B
How is Hepatitis B spread?
Spread through exposure to infected blood or bodily fluids
Vertical transmission form mother to child.
What is the incubation period of hepatitis B?
6-20 weeks
What are the features of Hepatitis B?
- Fever
- Jaundice
- Elevated liver transaminases.
What are some complications of hepatitis B infection?
- Chronic hepatitis (5-10%)
- Fulminant liver failure (1%)
- Hepatocellular carcinoma
- Glomerulonephritis
- Polyarteritis nodosa
- Cryoglobulinaemia
For hepatitis B, how many vaccinations are given and then how long until another booster is given?
3 doses of the vaccine are given and the booster is then given 5 years after the first vaccination.
(It is not routine and mainly if you are having exposure prone procedures)
What at risk groups should be vaccinated for Hep B?
- Healthcare workers
- IV drug users
- Sex workers
- Close family contacts of an individual with Hep B
- CKD patient who may soon require dialysis.
- Prisoners
- Chronic liver disease
What percentage of adults fail to respond to the vaccine and why?
10-15%
Due to obesity, alcohol excess, smoking or immunosuppression.
When would you test for anti-Hbs levels?
- Healthcare workers doing risk prone procedures.
- CKD
Anti-Hbs levels should be checked 1-4 months after primary immunisation.
How do you interpret anti-HBs levels?
- >100 - adequate response - no further testing required.
- 10-100 - suboptimal response - one additional vaccine dose needed.
- <10- non responder. Test for current or past infection. Give further vaccine course (3 doses). If still fails to respond then HBIG would be required for protection if exposed to the virus.
What is the management of Hepatitis B?
- Pegylated interferon-alpha used to be the only treatment available. It reduces viral replication in up to 30% of chronic carriers. A better response is predicted by being female, < 50 years old, low HBV DNA levels, non-Asian, HIV negative, high degree of inflammation on liver biopsy
- Whilst NICE still advocate the use of pegylated interferon firstl-line other antiviral medications are increasingly used with an aim to suppress viral replication (not in a dissimilar way to treating HIV patients)
- Examples include tenofovir and entecavir
What is HBsAg?
- HBsAg is Surface antigen
- It is the first marker to appear and causes the production of Anti-HBs
-
HBsAg normally implies acute disease (present for 1-6 months)
- if HBsAg is present for > 6 months then this implies chronic disease (i.e. Infective)
What does Anti-HBs imply?
Anti-HBs implies immunity (either exposure or immunisation). It is negative in chronic disease
What does Anti-HBc imply?
- REMEMBER: Anti-HBc = “caught”
- Anti-HBc implies previous (or current) infection.
- IgM anti-HBc = acute infection and is present for about 6 months.
- IgG anti-HBc = past infection.
What does HbeAg imply?
HbeAg results from breakdown of core antigen from infected liver cells as is therefore a marker of infectivity/transmissibility.