Once you completely recover from hepatitis A or B you can’t get it again, although in some people the condition becomes chronic and can last their whole lives. But since there are at least five different viruses that cause hepatitis, you can get one of the others (though not D if you are immune to B). Becoming infected with B and C at the same time may actually cause a much more severe, dangerous case of hepatitis. A person who has recovered from a case of viral hepatitis could also develop hepatitis again due to other causes, such as alcohol or drugs.
If you have had hepatitis C and clear the virus, you can become infected with it again. Because there are so many different genotypes of hepatitis C, and because the virus mutates so rapidly, natural immunity is not developed. Studies with chimpanzees have shown that after resolution of an acute hepatitis C infection, rechallenge with the same strain of HCV causes reinfection.
