Hepatitis D, caused by the hepatitis D virus, only occurs with hepatitis B infection. A person can acquire hepatitis D infection at the same time he or she is infected with the hepatitis B virus (called coinfection). A person with hepatitis B can be infected with hepatitis D virus at any time after acute hepatitis B virus infection (called super-infection). The combination of hepatitis B and D can be more serious than hepatitis B alone and is more likely to cause serious chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. Hepatitis D is spread in the same ways as hepatitis B. Intravenous drug users have a high incidence of hepatitis D.
Hepatitis E is similar to hepatitis A and is acute rather than chronic. Although hepatitis E is unusual in the United States, the virus has produced large outbreaks in Asia and South America. Direct contact with an infected person's feces or indirect fecal contamination of food, water supply, raw shellfish, hands, and utensils may result in sufficient amounts of the virus entering the mouth to cause an infection.
Hepatitis F appears to produce a type of hepatitis similar to hepatitis C, but scientists are not yet certain it is a separate hepatitis virus.
Hepatitis G is a newly identified virus that is probably transmitted in a similar fashion to hepatitis C. Scientists are unsure of its impact or how often it produces chronic symptoms or liver disease.
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