In the period from January 1971 to June 1983, 46 of 5477 patients (0.84%) admitted to Fairfield Hospital, Melbourne, with acute viral hepatitis died of fulminant hepatic failure. The case-fatality rate for patients with hepatitis A was 0.14%; for patients with hepatitis B, 0.84%; and for patients with non-A non-B (NANB) hepatitis, 2.29%. The highest case-fatality rates were observed in patients with post-transfusion hepatitis B (18.8%), and in patients with NANB hepatitis aged less than 5 years (50%) and 40 years and over (10%).