Hepatitis is a preventable disease caused by a virus that damages the liver. It is transmitted from one person to another in different ways depending on the type of hepatitis. In some cases it causes acute or short-term infections while in other instances it causes chronic or long-term infections. There are several different types of hepatitis. For more information on each type of hepatitis, visit ASHA’s pages on hepatitis under http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_hepatitis.cfm.