The word ‘Hepatitis’ means inflammation of the liver. Most commonly, hepatitis is caused by a virus (known as viral hepatitis), and we refer to these as hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.
Sometimes hepatitis has other causes, such as alcohol-induced liver disease (sometimes called “alcoholic hepatitis”), autoimmune hepatitis, when the body’s immune system attacks the liver, and toxic hepatitis, induced by exposure to certain chemicals.
Regardless of the cause, damage is caused to the cells of the liver, resulting in liver damage and increased risk of cancer.
It is possible to be affected by more than one type of hepatitis, viral or non-viral—when referring to viral hepatitis, this may be referred to as co-infection.
Learn more about viral hepatitis
The BC Hepatitis Network’s work focuses on viral hepatitis, primarily hepatitis B and hepatitis C. If you would like to learn more about non-viral hepatitis, you can get started at the links below.
- Autoimmune Hepatitis (Canadian Liver Foundation)
- Alcohol-induced complications (Canadian Liver Foundation)
- Toxic Hepatitis (Canadian Liver Foundation)