WILTDBLIMS #211: Hepatitis and productive procrastination

This is the tardiest I've even been for this blog, but I was working on something else that I'm quite proud of:

Click to go to the full resolution Google Drawing

That diagram is just the classification information on most of the viruses we need to know for our microbiology final next week. Of course, we also need to know the pathology and treatment for each of the diseases these viruses cause - not to mention all the bacteria and parasites we need to review in the meantime... Gonna be a "fun" week!

What I learned the day before last: Hepatitis! Everyone has heard of hepatitis and probably even knows that there are three common types: A, B and C. But do you know what hepatitis actually is? Hepat- means liver and -itis means inflammation, so any hepatitis is an inflammatory process of the liver. The lettered bits refer to specific viruses that affect the liver, causing a form hepatitis.

{brace yourself for all the TLAs^*}

Something that I didn't know until Friday was that the viruses that cause hep A, B and C are totally unrelated. Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a tiny picornavirus, HBV is an hepadnavirus, and HCV is a flavivirus. HAV and HCV use RNA for their genetic material, meanwhile HBV uses DNA. HAV is transmitted from feces; HBV and HCV are passed on through blood and bodily fluids. Most importantly, HAV is quickly recovered from while HBV and HCV often lead to chronic, lifelong infections and severe liver damage.

There are also viral hepatitises D and E, as well as a few other viruses that are suspected of being associated with hepatitis but have not earned a letter yet. And all of these are very different as well. Isn't virology simple? (in case the sarcasm didn't just drip from that last sentence, take another glance at that chart above)

*three-letter acronyms