Auto-Immune Hepatitis & Viral Load

Do people with AIH have a measurable viral load?  I was wondering if the PCR can be used to determine whether a case of hepatitis is viral or auto-immune.  

[SonicBandaid]

No.  The problem is that Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) has no identifiable virus.  It MAY be viral (this article suggests many autoimmune diseases may be caused or triggered by viruses: Replicative homeostasis II: Influence of polymerase fidelity on RNA virus quasispecies biology: Implications for immune recognition, viral autoimmunity and other "virus receptor" diseases Richard Sallie
Virology Journal 2005, 2:70     doi:10.1186/1743-422X-2-70) but the cause is presently unknown, hence PCR (that is generally used to define the load of a specific virus in patietns with viral hepatitis) is not helpful (other than perhaps to exclude co-existent HCV).
best wishes!

[sass_blue]

My understanding is that it is your 'ordinary' immune system that is attacking the liver..  I have just been told I have AIH by a specialist and was told that basically this means that my immune system is in 'overdrive' .  My doc also told me that I have 3 different antibodies related to AIH present in the blood.  I became aware of AIH because my LFT's were way high.  I am still yet to learn about AIH myself but will keep people informed as I learn new stuff.

[GrandmaA]

Dr. Zhang has a treatment for AIH check out his website sinomedresearch dot com. Best wishes to you.

[sass_blue]

thanks for that