MUST READ [YOUR HEALTH] Casual sex, shared toothbrush can give you hepatitis B

Among infectious diseases globally, hepatitis B is reputed as the 10th leading cause of death. In Nigeria, experts say, nearly two-thirds of the population have contact with the virus, while about 20 per cent of the population is infected, with a good number unaware of it. Bad as it is, children are less likely to have symptoms than adults, even when infected.

Worse still, people with hepatitis B don’t feel the symptoms until a larger part of the liver has been damaged. In fact, gastroenterologists say by the time the symptoms of hepatitis B infection begin to manifest in an individual, it is almost always too late for doctors to help.

Physicians say there is no medication available to treat acute hepatitis B, though they may recommend rest, adequate nutrition, and regular intake of fluids, while some patients may need to be hospitalised.

And although not everyone infected with the hepatitis B virus will develop symptoms, persons infected may develop a sudden onset of fever, extreme tiredness, nausea, lack of appetite, abdominal pain (stomach pain), dark urine, clay-coloured bowel movements, joint pain and yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes (jaundice).

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According to consultant physician, Dr. Aderemi Oluyemi, a specialist in hepatology, gastroenterology and endoscopy, the hepatitis B virus is spread through infected bodily fluids.

He says, “Among these bodily fluids are infected blood and blood products. Exposure to infected blood or blood products can occur through working in a laboratory or a dialysis unit, through infected needles used for tattoos or body piercing, or through sharing drug needles. In a few cases, people have been infected with hepatitis B by sharing objects that may have a tiny amount of blood on them, such as a toothbrush, razor, or tools used for manicures.”

As deadly as the hepatitis B virus is, it is unlike the HIV, which is a blood-to-blood pathogen.

Gastroenterologist and pathologist, Dr. Charles Onyekwere, notes that outside of strictly controlled laboratory conditions, HIV will only survive for a couple of minutes at the very most. Not so the hepatitis B virus, which can survive outside the body for at least seven days! During that time, the virus can still cause infection if it enters the body of a person who is not infected.

The disease can result in long-term health problems, including liver damage, liver failure, liver cancer, or even death. The liver takes the bashing in hepatitis B infection because the virus doesn’t flow in the blood, but incorporates itself in the liver.

And though many people will do all that is possible to avoid an HIV-positive person, they are unaware that hepatitis B is also most commonly spread through sexual contact and accounts for nearly two-thirds of acute cases.

A specialist in gastrointestinal conditions, Dr. Oladipupo Hameed, says hepatitis B is 50-100 times more infectious than HIV and can be passed from an infected mother to her baby during birth. He says the likelihood that acute hepatitis B will become chronic depends upon the age at which someone becomes infected.

“The younger a person is when infected with hepatitis B virus, the greater his or her chance of developing chronic hepatitis B. Approximately 90 per cent of infected infants will develop chronic infection, though the risk goes down as a child gets older.

“Approximately 25-50 per cent of children infected between the ages of one and five years will develop chronic hepatitis. The risk drops to six-10 per cent when a person is infected over five years of age. Worldwide, most people with chronic hepatitis B were infected at birth or during early childhood,” Hameed explains.

Experts say hepatitis B is common in Nigeria, with nearly two-thirds of the population in contact with the virus. Despite these grim statistics, however, screening centres are few, and the cost of test is outrageous.

The physicians are unanimous that the ultimate ‘treatment’ for hepatitis B is prevention.

Oluyemi says, “The hepatitis B vaccine is the mainstay of hepatitis B prevention. The World Health Organisation recommends that all infants receive the vaccine, ideally within 24 hours of birth, and it can be given as either three or four separate doses, as part of existing routine immunisation schedules.”

Onyekwere says the complete vaccine series induce protective antibody levels in more than 95 per cent of infants, children and young adults, as protection lasts at least 20 years and is possibly life-long.

He advises, “All children and adolescents younger than 18 years old and not previously vaccinated should receive the vaccine. People in high-risk groups should also be vaccinated, including people with high-risk sexual behaviour, partners and households of infected people, injecting drug users, people who frequently require blood or blood products, recipients of solid organ transplantation and people at occupational risk of hepatitis B virus infection, including health-care workers.”

The physicians call on governments at all levels to see hepatitis B as an emergency and to make testing for the virus a part of the antenatal process, if only to prevent new infections from mother-to-child, which can happen at birth.

They note that though a vaccine against hepatitis B has been available since 1982 and is 95 per cent effective in preventing infection and its chronic consequences, being the first vaccine against a major human cancer, the full advantage is still not being tapped in Nigeria.

They say in order to prevent and control viral hepatitis, it is necessary for governments to raise awareness, promote partnerships and mobilise personnel and resources to especially curb its spread.

The way out

Know the risks: There are risks of contracting hepatitis from unsafe blood, unsafe injections, and sharing drug-injection equipment.

Demand safe injections: Approximately two million people a year contract hepatitis from unsafe injections. These infections can be averted through the use of sterile syringes that are specifically designed to prevent reuse.

Be vaccinated: Physicians recommend vaccinating all children against hepatitis B infection.

Get tested, seek treatment: Medicines are now available that can cure most people with hepatitis C and control hepatitis B infection. People who receive these medicines are much less likely to die from liver cancer and cirrhosis and much less likely to infect others.

 - Solaade Ayo-Aderele/Punch

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