Why is hepatitis B dangerous and how not to get it?

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Only about 10% of those infected are aware of their diagnosis.

What is hepatitis B and how does it happen?

Hepatitis B is an inflammation of the liver caused by one of the hepatitis viruses. There are five types of them, viruses: A, B, C, D and E. They are all different - they differ in symptoms and consequences, and methods of treatment.

Hepatitis B is caused by a type B virus (HBV - Hepatitis B Virus). This type of disease occurs in two forms: acute and chronic.

Acute hepatitis B usually clears up within 1–3 months and rarely causes serious health problems. Sometimes a person does not even notice that he was sick. But in some cases, the ailment drags on for six months or more and becomes chronic.

According to Hepatitis B statistics, the chronic form develops in:

• 90% of babies infected with hepatitis B;
• 20% of older children;
• 5% of adults.

Why is hepatitis B dangerous?

The acute form of the disease can be fatal.

1-2% of those infected develop the so-called fulminant Hepatitis B: diagnosis, treatment, prevention of hepatitis, which leads to death in 63-93% of cases.

Prolonged, chronic inflammation also kills, but more slowly. Hepatitis gradually destroys liver cells, and over time this can lead to severe consequences of Hepatitis B, including:

• Cirrhosis. This condition is said to be when destroyed liver cells are replaced with scar tissue.
• Liver failure. This is a condition in which the liver can no longer cope with its functions. In this case, only transplantation can save a person's life.
• Liver cancer.
• Inflammation of other organs. The inflammatory process in the liver can spread throughout the body and cause, for example, kidney or blood vessel disease.

In addition, people with chronic hepatitis B are dangerous to those around them. They are carriers of Hepatitis B infection and can infect others without even knowing it.

Where does hepatitis B come from?

The HBV virus is transmitted exclusively through body fluids, such as blood, semen, vaginal secretions.

This means you cannot get Hepatitis B Hepatitis B from someone else's coughing, sneezing, or shaking hands.

The most common transmission of the virus occurs in one of the following ways of Hepatitis B:

• Sexual contact. You can become infected if you have unprotected sex with a carrier partner. Therefore, hepatitis B is classified as a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
• Sharing needles. HBV spreads easily through syringes and needles that are contaminated with infected blood.
• Tattoos, piercings, manicure. If blood particles of a person with hepatitis B remain on poorly sterilized equipment, there is a risk of transmitting the virus to another.
• Sharing toothbrushes or shaving accessories.
• Accidental pricks with an infected needle. Nurses working with tests, as well as other health workers who in one way or another come into contact with the blood and other fluids of their patients, have an increased risk of contracting hepatitis B.
• From mother to child. Pregnant women infected with HBV can transmit the virus to their babies during childbirth.

What are the symptoms of hepatitis B

Recognizing hepatitis B is sometimes difficult. In most people, the disease goes away without symptoms. Hepatitis B.

If signs do appear, it will occur 2-3 months after infection with Hepatitis B. Hepatitis B makes itself felt:

• flu-like illness: fever, body aches;
• lingering weakness, fatigue;
• loss of appetite;
• nausea and sometimes vomiting;
• dark urine;
• itching;
• yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice).

But we repeat once again: most often the symptoms do not occur at all - neither in the acute phase of the disease, nor even more so in the chronic one. A person feels good - until one day serious liver problems appear.

Therefore, at the slightest suspicion of hepatitis B or even an assumption that you could have been infected with it (for example, you had unprotected sex with a new partner), you should contact a therapist as soon as possible.

How to treat hepatitis B

It depends on the form of the disease and the period that has passed since the virus entered the body.

How is it treated if the infection has occurred very recently

An injection of immunoglobulin (anti-HBV antibodies) will prevent infection if infection was likely less than 12 hours ago with Hepatitis B. But the decision on the need for an injection can only be made by a doctor.

The injection is prescribed only in that case. if you have not been previously vaccinated against hepatitis B.

How is acute hepatitis B treated?

Only in the infectious diseases hospital RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DIAGNOSTICS AND TREATMENT OF ADULT PATIENTS WITH HEPATITIS B.

Since up to 95% of patients recover on their own, doctors will not fight the virus. The hospital will only help alleviate the symptoms (if any) and make sure that complications do not arise.

How is chronic hepatitis B treated?

Most people with chronic illness need treatment for the rest of their lives. Therapy is carried out with antiviral drugs or interferon injections. Medications reduce liver damage and reduce the risk of you passing the infection on to others.

In severe cases, a liver transplant may be needed.

How not to get hepatitis B

The most reliable option is to get vaccinated. Typically, the Hepatitis B vaccine is given in three or four injections over 6 months.

In Russia, hepatitis B vaccination of newborns has been included in the Hepatitis B vaccination in the National Calendar of Preventive Vaccinations.

Getting vaccinated (or making sure that the information about the vaccination is in your personal medical record) is also worth people who are at risk of Hepatitis B:

• children and adolescents who were not vaccinated at birth;
• people living in the same house with a carrier of hepatitis B;
• medical workers, rescuers and representatives of other professions who regularly come into contact with someone else's blood;
• those who have any STI, including HIV;
• men who have sex with members of the same gender;
• people who have multiple sexual partners;
• spouses and sexual partners of a hepatitis B carrier;
• people who use drugs;
• those who have any chronic liver disease;
• people with end-stage kidney disease;
• travelers who plan to travel to an area where hepatitis B is common.

There are other ways to mitigate risks as well.

Use condoms

A must if you are planning to have sex with a new sexual partner or are not 100% sure that your regular partner does not have hepatitis B.

Avoid casual sex

Especially with several partners.

Don't share personal hygiene items

The toothbrush, shaving equipment, needles (if you are prescribed injectable medicines) should only be yours.

Choose your beauty or tattoo parlor carefully

Be sure to check that the tools with which you will be doing manicure, pedicure, tattoo, piercing are disposable or properly sterilized.