 [ Symptoms ] what is viral hepatitis [ Disease ] hepatitis means inflammation of the liver viral hepatitis is inflammation of the liver caused by a virus there are five identified types of viral hepatitis and each one is caused by a different virus in the united states hepatitis a hepatitis b and hepatitis c are the most common types hepatitis a is caused by hepatitis a virus hav hepatitis b is caused by hepatitis b virus hbv and hepatitis c is caused by hepatitis c virus hcv