Hepatitis means “inflammation of the liver”. Inflammation usually means “swelling, heat and redness”. So basically, hepatitis occurs when something has made your liver ‘sick’.

The things that can cause hepatitis include alcohol, chemicals (including some drugs), and viruses.

Hepatitis C is caused by a virus, called the hepatitis C virus, or HCV (or hep C for short).

Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus, meaning it lives in blood and is passed on when blood with hepatitis C in it gets into the blood stream of another person.

There is no vaccination for hepatitis C.

Would you like to know the differences between hepatitis A, B and C?