[Clinical course of non-A, non-B hepatitis]

Diagnosis of seronegative hepatitis non-A-non-B today can only be established by exclusion. The infectious agent probably is of vital nature. Two or more viruses seem to occur: One of these leads to outbreaks of the disease after short incubation (2-5 weeks), the other one after long incubation (6-26 weeks). Transmission essentially occurs parenterally. The disease starts with extreme fatigue; only 20-25% of the patient will get jaundice. Usually increase of transaminases is smaller than in hepatitis B, and the clinical picture milder. In about 50% of the cases hepatitis non-A-non-B becomes chronic; tendency for complete cure, however, is greater than in hepatitis B. In chronic cases biopsy of the liver seems to be important, since in our experiences relatively typical changes of the portal fields occur. There are no general recommendations for therapy. Blood donors with increased SGPT should not be accepted.