Hepatitis B & C

Hepatits C

 

Epidemiology

- 0.5% blood donors positive

 

NHx

- 20% carriers get cirrhosis at 20ys

- 5% get Hepatocellular Ca

 

Transmission

- Mainly IV Drug abuse

- Little evidence for sex spread

 

Needle-stick

- risk seroconversion is 3%

- only if patient HCV RNA +

- 30% of patients clear the HCV / will remain Antibody positive

 

Hepatitis B

 

Epidemiology

 

Australia has a mosaic incidence due to multicultural population

- Asia 10%

- Southern Europe 10%

- Northern Europe 0.1%

 

Transmission

- Extremely infectious

- IV Drug abuse

- sex

- Neonatal infection

 

Diagnosis

 

HBsAg +

- Currently infected & infectious

- Acute & Chronic Hepatitis

 

HBeAg

- Older marker of infectivity

 

Anti-HBc

- Antibody to core antigen

- Post infected immunity

 

Anti-HBs 

- Vaccinated

- Post-Infection Immunity

 

HBVDNA

- Direct marker infectivity

- Acute & Chronic Hepatitis