Hepatitis for the Correctional Nurse

2.0 Continuing Education Hours

Hepatitis, a general term referring to inflammation of the liver, may result from various causes, both infectious (viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic organisms) and non-infectious (alcohol, drugs, autoimmunediseases, and metabolic diseases).  This class will focus on viral hepatitis, which accounts for more than 50% of cases of acute hepatitis in the United States presenting primarily in the emergency department setting.

In this class, we will discuss the most common types of viral hepatitis seen in the correctional environment – A, B, and C.  We will also describe Hepatitis D and Hepatitis E, two infections that are not predominant in the United States, but are found in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Northern and Southern Europe and Central America.