5-74
* See Infectious Diseases for detailed discussions of Hepatitis.
** Must also consider gallbladder disease with acute pain (not commonly jaundiced), pancreatic
cancer with painless jaundice, and many other diseases of the liver and hepatobiliary system.
*** Enteric precautions include use of gloves, gowns or other barriers
when in contact with patient, patient waste, clothes, or linens.
**** Universal precautions include use of gloves, gown, mask and eyewear (or face shield) when
drawing blood or coming into contact with blood or other body fluids.
***** Chronic infection may be treated with
interferon
based regimens.
ID: Viral Infections: Acute Hepatitis *
DiseaseRoute ofacquisition(common)Precautions to avoid spread Prevention Treatment(acute)
Handwashing, proper food preparation and waste disposal; immunization and/or immune globulin prior to or during outbreak of Hepatitis A; isolation of infected patients
Most not spread person-to-person; disease-specic: including avoiding vectors
Hepatitis A/Hepatitis E
Hepatitis B/Hepatitis D
Hepatitis C Blood Universal precautions Avoid exposure to blood Supportive*****
Supportive*****
Supportive
Disease-specic; usually supportive
Toxins (i.e., Amanita mushrooms), Drugs (i.e., acetaminophen), or AlcoholIngestion Not spread person-to-person Avoidance of the specic toxin or drug Supportive
Other Important Causes **
Other Infections (i.e., leptospirosis, yellow fever)Disease-specic Disease-specic: including immunization (yellow fever) and chemoprophylaxis (lepto-spirosis)
Blood, perinatal, sexual Universal precautions ****Avoid unprotected sexual contact, and exposure to blood; immunization and/or immune globulin for Hepatitis B
Oral-fecalEnteric precautions ***
LTC Duane Hospenthal, MC, USA
Table 5-2