[hollywoodbudgie]

Hello everyone,

I’m really confused about how the life cycle of hepatitis.
I understand that hepatitis B is a DNA virus that replicates as if it is a retrovirus.
I also understand that it gets around the immune system by inducing tolerance, but I’m confused as to what HBeAg is and how it relates to hepatitis B.
Also, does Hepatitis C have the same mechanism?

Thank you so much, will rep

[hollywoodbudgie]

bump

[thegodofgod]

(Original post by hollywoodbudgie)
bump

I'm not sure, but I just wanted to let you know that hepatitis is actually the disease, not the virus. Hepat- = Liver, -itis = Inflammation.

(It seemed to me in the OP as if you were confused about hepatitis itself being the pathogen )

EDIT: Have a read here (but back up from other sources if you need referencing): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis

[John Locke]

HBeAg is a viral protein which is immunogenic and measurable in the plasma. The infection and replication of Hep B & C are different.

to be honest, you're basically asking about everything there is to know about hep virus molecular pathogenesis and i think it would be easiest if you start from a chapter in a book as that should easily answer the kind of questions you have here. lots of books will cover it fairly well; human virology, principles of virology even path books like big robbins.

(Original post by thegodofgod)
I'm not sure, but I just wanted to let you know that hepatitis is actually the disease, not the virus. Hepat- = Liver, -itis = Inflammation.

(It seemed to me in the OP as if you were confused about hepatitis itself being the pathogen )

EDIT: Have a read here (but back up from other sources if you need referencing): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis

not helpful, the hepatitis viruses are a major causes of hepatitis and it's already clear from the context that it is this which we are talking about.

[hollywoodbudgie]

Thanks, this is all very confusing