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HIV & hepatitis

Michael Carter

This booklet is for people with HIV who want to know more about hepatitis A, B and C. These are viruses that can damage the liver and make you very unwell. There is information in this booklet about how you can prevent yourself from becoming infected with these viruses, and how they are treated if you have become infected. This booklet is not intended to replace discussion with your doctor, but should help you to think about questions you would like answering.

If you work in a clinic or support group in the UK, you can order printed copies of our booklets for free for your clients and patients through our free booklet scheme. Contact us for more details on 020 3242 0820 or by emailing info@nam.org.uk.

HIV & hepatitis is also available online in French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

  • The liver

    ‘Hepatitis’ means inflammation of the liver. The liver is the largest internal organ in your body. It is located at the upper right-hand side of the abdomen. Having...

  • Hepatitis A

    Hepatitis A can cause a short-term (or acute) illness, which normally lasts 10 to 14 days. It has no long-term, or chronic, phase. You can normally expect...

  • Hepatitis B

    Hepatitis B virus (often known as HBV, but to avoid possible confusion with HIV, this abbreviation isn’t used in this booklet) is an infection that can cause...

  • Hepatitis C

    Hepatitis C, although unrelated to hepatitis B, often causes similar symptoms. Estimates of the number of people in the UK who are chronically infected vary, but range...

  • Treatment for hepatitis C

    Treatments are available for hepatitis C and aim to cure the condition. People with HIV who are newly diagnosed with hepatitis C should consider the pros and...

  • Liver transplant

    If your liver becomes damaged to the point where it cannot repair itself, and is likely to fail completely, you may need to consider the possibility of...

  • A team approach to treatment and care

    Your treatments for HIV and for hepatitis B or C should involve a network of specialist doctors. As well as your HIV consultant, this should include the local...

  • Further information

    For more information on hepatitis, visit the hepatitis topics page on this website. We regularly report news stories about hepatitis and HIV - you can see...

  • Summary

    The liver is an organ that plays an important part in processing drugs.Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are serious viral infections that affect the liver.You should be...

This content was checked for accuracy at the time it was written. It may have been superseded by more recent developments. NAM recommends checking whether this is the most current information when making decisions that may affect your health.