Hepat/ - liver
Hepat/ - Word Root
-itis - inflammation
-itis - Suffix
Hepatitis - inflammation of the liver
Viruses that primarily attack the liver are called hepatitis viruses. There are several types of hepatitis viruses including types A, B, C, D, E, and possibly G. Types A, B, and C are the most common.
Hepatitis viruses replicate (multiply) in the liver cells. Newly-produced viruses are released into the blood stream where they can be spread to other organs or to other persons exposed to the infected blood.
- The liver helps purify the blood by changing harmful chemicals into harmless ones. The source of these chemicals can be external, such as medications or alcohol, or internal, such as ammonia or bilirubin. Typically, these harmful chemicals are broken down into smaller chemicals or attached to other chemicals that then are eliminated from the body in the urine or stool.
- The liver produces many important substances, especially proteins that are necessary for good health. For example, it produces albumin, the protein building block of the body, as well as the proteins that cause blood to clot properly.
- The liver stores many sugars, fats and vitamins until they are needed elsewhere in the body.
- The liver builds smaller chemicals into larger, more complicated chemicals that are needed elsewhere in the body. An example of this type of function is the manufacture of cholesterol.
