DL-004: Viral Hepatitis, 2 CE

Les Revier, BS, MBA, CLS, C(ASCP), Senior Manager, UCSD Medical Center (Retired) & by Helen M. Sowers, MS, CLS, Dept. of Biological Sciences (Retired), CSU East Bay Approved for 2.0 CE Level of Difficulty: Intermediate CAMLT is approved by the California Department of Public Health as a CA CLS Accrediting Agency (#21) Hepatitis has been known since ancient times. Hippocrates characterized its signs, including jaundice. It was recognized as a disease affecting the liver, causing the skin to turn yellow. Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver, usually producing swelling and, in many cases, permanent damage to liver tissues. By the eighth century some cases were found to be infectious. Epidemics of jaundice have been reported since the 5th century BC, with major epidemics documented in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. Epidemics were so frequent among armies that the disease was termed campaign jaundice. In the 19th century the cause was thought to be obstruction of the common bile duct by a mucus plug and was called acute catarrhal jaundice. However growing evidence for the infectious nature of the disease culminated in 1923 when Blumer concluded that infectious hepatitis was the epidemic form of catarrhal jaundice.