[Your Health]: Hepatitis diagnosis and management (2)

It was established in the previous article that hepatitis is a serious inflammation of the liver, usually due to a virus and that it can also be caused by an overactive immune system, malaria and toxic substances like chemicals, drugs and alcoholism.

“This is hepatitis. Know it. Confront it,” is the slogan for this year’s World Hepatitis Day, which held on Sunday July 28, 2013 all over the world. The awareness level is low in Nigeria because health workers focus more on malaria, compared to Western Australia where, when patients present with symptoms of malaria, they are routinely screened for hepatitis, thereby raising the awareness level.

Viral hepatitis.

Continue reading after the cut....
Hepatitis A is a common form of viral hepatitis. It often affects school-age children. The disease is usually transmitted by ingesting contaminated food and water, such as when people eat sea foods caught from sewage contaminated water.

It can also be transmitted through close contact with someone who has the virus. A person who has Hepatitis A can be contagious before they even know they have the disease. Unlike other forms of viral hepatitis, the virus does not stay in the body once the person recovers. The best way to prevent Hepatitis A is with a vaccine and good hygiene.

Hepatitis E is not as common as Hepatitis A, but it is spread in the same way as Hepatitis A through ingestion of food or water contaminated with faeces. There is no vaccine for hepatitis E; and the only way to prevent it is to reduce the risk of exposure to the virus.

Hepatitis A and E do not stay in the body after recovery. The virus is wiped away from the system. They do not get to the chronic stage. The treatment for Hepatitis A and E is simple rest, taking adequate fluids, eating balanced meal and taking multivitamin supplement.

Hepatitis B affects people of all ages. Most adults who become infected with Hepatitis B get rid of the virus within six months. This type of short infection is known as an acute case of Hepatitis B. About 10 per cent of adults infected with the Hepatitis B virus develop a chronic, life-long infection.

People with chronic infection may or may not have symptoms. Those who do not develop symptoms are referred to as carriers. Hepatitis B is acquired through contact with infected blood and body fluids. These viruses are usually transmitted by contaminated needles (in the case of intravenous drug users). Having unprotected sex with someone who is infected can also pass on the Hepatitis B virus. Having chronic Hepatitis B may lead to permanent liver damage, including liver cirrhosis and cancer.

Hepatitis C is usually spread through contact with infected blood, as when intravenous drug users share needles. It can be either acute or become chronic and even life-threatening.

To be concluded.

-Rotimi Adesanya (roayad@yahoo.com)/Punch 

Share your thoughts...thanks!