Hepatitis B virus treatment and cure are not as simple as portrayed.
It involves a series of specialised
tests such as liver enzymes monitoring, hepatitis B quantifications,
viral loads and, above all, specialist consultations, treatments and
serial follow- ups, all of which take time.
Hepatitis B is a type of virus that
infects the liver. In most cases, the virus will only stay in the body
for around one to three months. This is known as acute hepatitis B. In
about one in 20 cases in adults, the virus will stay for six months or
longer, usually without causing any noticeable symptoms. This is known
as chronic hepatitis B.
Chronic hepatitis B is particularly
common in......
babies and young children. Children infected in early
childhood will develop the chronic or long-term infection. Most adults
that acquire the infection in adulthood get rid of it within six months.
The simple explanation is that most adults with chronic hepatitis acquired it during childhood without being aware.
Transmission
These same people who are carriers of
the virus unknowingly transmit it to other people around them, hence
increasing the prevalence of the virus among other Nigerians.
hepatitis B can be spread through blood
transfusion, blood contacts and body fluids such as semen and vaginal
fluids, so it can be caught during unprotected sex, including anal and
oral sex, when sharing needles to inject drugs such as heroin, etc.
Symptoms
It takes between 40 days to six months
for any symptoms to develop after exposure to the virus. Many people
don’t realise they have been infected with the virus because the
symptoms may not develop immediately, or even at all.
The major symptoms are feeling sick,
being sick, lack of appetite, flu-like symptoms, such as tiredness,
general body pains, fibromyalgia (a rheumatic condition characterised by
muscular or musculoskeletal pain with stiffness and localised
tenderness at specific points on the body), headaches, yellowing of the
skin and eyes (jaundice).
Risk factors
The following groups of people are at
risk of contracting hepatitis B Virus: people who inject drugs, people
with multiple sexual partners, people who obtain tattoos through
unsterile instruments, people who have had blood transfusion, health
workers, etc.
Diagnoses
Hepatitis B is diagnosed by a blood test
that shows a positive reaction to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBSag), a
liver function test. This is a blood test that measures certain enzymes
and proteins in the bloodstream, which indicates whether the liver is
damaged. It will often show raised levels infected with the hepatitis B
virus.
July 28th is World Hepatitis Day. The
Strategic Health Insight, in marking this year’s World Hepatitis Day
2015 has announced a one-day free seminar for the public, entitled,
“hepatitis B Virus is closer than you think.”
Date: Saturday, August 1, 2015. Please, call 08188343865, 08186549147 or visit www.the-hospitals.com for details.
Culled - Rotimi Adesanya
Share your thoughts....thanks!
hepatitis B is once again becoming popular as it is more widespread than a few years back. thank you for an informative article.
ReplyDeletedespite great advances in medicine there still is a high risk from hepatitis B today
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