Hepatitis

Hepatitis means the liver is inflamed. When the cause is a virus it is called viral hepatitis, and researchers have identified five main types: hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. Hepatitis can also result from heavy drinking, certain medicines and supplements, toxic chemicals, or the immune system attacking the liver (autoimmune hepatitis). Signs can include tiredness, nausea, dark urine, pale stools, and yellowing of the skin and eyes, called jaundice.

The type matters because each spreads differently. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, hepatitis A and hepatitis E typically spread when a person eats food or drinks water contaminated by an infected person's stool. Hepatitis B and C spread mainly through blood and other body fluids. Hepatitis A is usually a short-term infection that clears on its own in a few weeks, while hepatitis B and C can become long-term infections that scar the liver.

In litigation, hepatitis A shows up most often after food outbreaks. When a restaurant worker or a contaminated product (frozen berries are a common example) spreads the virus, people who got sick may bring individual claims against the restaurant, supplier, or manufacturer, and people who only received vaccine shots after exposure sometimes join consumer class actions. Drug-induced hepatitis is a different path: claims allege that a medicine or supplement injured the liver without an adequate warning.

If you were sickened in an outbreak, keep receipts, the product packaging, and your test results. Our page on food recall injury rights explains what those cases require, and supplement mislabeling lawsuits covers liver injury claims tied to supplements.