The liver is the largest organ within the human body and at the same time does the greatest number of different jobs—upward of five hundred. It therefore should not be surprising that at times it gets inflamed when invaded by certain poisons, bacterial or viral organisms. Inflammation of the liver is known as hepatitis. In the United States, from 30,000 to 70,000 cases of hepatitis are reported each year. The actual total may be very much greater.
There are several kinds of hepatitis. Infectious hepatitis is caused by contamination of one's water or food supply by the stool or faecal matter of someone who is a carrier of hepatitis. A person can carry the hepatitis virus without himself being disabled or made sick by it. This kind of hepatitis has an "incubation" period of between fifteen and forty days. That is, it takes that long after the virus has invaded one's body before its symptoms manifest themselves, and they do this rather abruptly. Infectious hepatitis may run its course without one's being aware of it, which is one reason why there may be many times as many cases of it as are reported. Only two tenths of one percent, or one in five hundred reported cases of infectious hepatitis, results in death.
There are several kinds of hepatitis. Infectious hepatitis is caused by contamination of one's water or food supply by the stool or faecal matter of someone who is a carrier of hepatitis. A person can carry the hepatitis virus without himself being disabled or made sick by it. This kind of hepatitis has an "incubation" period of between fifteen and forty days. That is, it takes that long after the virus has invaded one's body before its symptoms manifest themselves, and they do this rather abruptly. Infectious hepatitis may run its course without one's being aware of it, which is one reason why there may be many times as many cases of it as are reported. Only two tenths of one percent, or one in five hundred reported cases of infectious hepatitis, results in death.