Combined results demonstrated that CTLA-4 rs231775 (recessive comparison: OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.11–1.55), IL-18 rs1946518 (dominant comparison: OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.75–0.90; recessive comparison: OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.11–1.50; allele comparison: OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.68–0.86) and IL-18 rs187238 (dominant comparison: OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.03–1.52; allele comparison: OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.05–1.37) polymorphisms were all significantly associated with viral hepatitis in the general population. Here, IL18 is linked to viral hepatitis.