Hepatitis

Hepatitis is a liver disease. It makes your liver, an important organ in your body, swell up (or become inflamed) and stop working well. A healthy liver helps your body fight infections, stops bleeding, takes drugs and other poisons out of your blood, and stores energy. Hepatitis can be mild and last for a short time or be very serious and cause liver failure and death.

Hepatitis is caused by a virus (a germ that causes sickness). Other things can harm the liver, such as alcohol or drug abuse and long-term use of some medications. Hepatitis affects millions of Americans and is a serious health problem in parts of Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.