Disease Pattern Identification in Oriental Medicine and Herb Medicine treatment for Acute Hepatitis A with Jaundice : Case Series of 3 Patients

황달을 동반한 급성 A형 간염 환자 3예의 변증 분형과 인진(茵蔯)의 응용 치료

Hepatitis A is acute hepatitis caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV), HAV is a non-enveloped 27nm, heat-, acid, and ether-resistant RNA virus in the Picornavirus family. HAV is transmitted primarily through fecal-oral route and the incidence rate of hepatitis A is closely related to environmental hygiene and socioeconomic condition. Recent improvements in sanitation, public health policies, and socioeconomic development in South Korea have had great impact on the incidence of hepatitis A, which natural production of antibodies against HAV and the prevalence of HAV antibody has decreased. However, during the past ten years, symptomatic HAV infection substantially increased among juveniles and young adults in their twenties and thirties, and hepatitis A has become one of the most common acute hepatitis. Though there has been no report on treatment of hepatitis A with jaundice by oriental medicine in South Korea, many studies and case reports on treatment of icteric hepatitis of which main symptom is jaundice have been published in other countries. To treat patients diagnosed with hepatitis or suspected cases in oriental medicine hospitals, we need to have concerned about hepatitis A. This report is disease pattern identification in oriental medicine and treatments of 3 patients who were diagnosed with acute hepatitis A and treated in oriental medicine hospital.