Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 28, 2021; 27(16): 1691-1715
Published online Apr 28, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i16.1691
From hepatitis A to E: A critical review of viral hepatitis
Daniel Castaneda, Adalberto Jose Gonzalez, Mohammad Alomari, Kanwarpreet Tandon, Xaralambos Bobby Zervos
Daniel Castaneda, Adalberto Jose Gonzalez, Mohammad Alomari, Kanwarpreet Tandon, Digestive Disease Institute, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, FL 33331, United States
Xaralambos Bobby Zervos, Transplant Department, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, FL 33331, United States
Author contributions: Castaneda D, Gonzalez AJ, Alomari M and Tandon K performed the literature search, drafted the article and made the manuscript corrections; Zervos XB performed critical review and supervision of the article; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors have any compelling conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Daniel Castaneda, MD, Academic Fellow, Digestive Disease Institute, Cleveland Clinic Florida, 2950 Cleveland Clinic Boulevard, Weston, FL 33331, United States. daniel.castaneda.m@gmail.com
Received: January 25, 2021
Peer-review started: January 25, 2021
First decision: February 27, 2021
Revised: March 2, 2021
Accepted: April 9, 2021
Article in press: April 9, 2021
Published online: April 28, 2021
Processing time: 85 Days and 6.4 Hours
Abstract

Viral infections affecting the liver have had an important impact on humanity, as they have led to significant morbidity and mortality in patients with acute and chronic infections. Once an unknown etiology, the discovery of the viral agents triggered interest of the scientific community to establish the pathogenesis and diagnostic modalities to identify the affected population. With the rapid scientific and technological advances in the last centuries, controlling and even curing the infections became a possibility, with a large focus on preventive medicine through vaccination. Hence, a comprehensive understanding of hepatitis A, B, C, D and E is required by primary care physicians and gastroenterologists to provide care to these patients. The review article describes the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnostic tools and current medication regimens, with a focus on upcoming treatment options and the role of liver transplantation.

Keywords: Hepatitis A; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis D; Hepatitis E; Treatment

Core Tip: Viral hepatitis (A, B, C, D and E) diagnosis and treatment have evolved through the last decades, with recent investigations aiming to cure and prevent them pharmacologically or through liver transplantation. This state-of-art review focuses on the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, with a special focus on upcoming diagnostic tools and treatments.