HEALTHY LIVING

Hepatitis is serious disease that can have deadly consequences. Hepatitis is disease of the liver that caused by a virus. Different types of viruses cause different types of hepatitis. This short of knowledge describes the various forms of the disease and explains their symptoms, how they are transmitted, prevention and treatments.

Hepatitis A

Many people especially children under the age of six, will have no symptoms and won't even be aware that they are sick. Those who do have symptoms may experience any of the following: fever, chills, headache, general weakness, and fatigue, jaundice ( yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes), dark-colored urine, light colored stools, abdominal pain.
Infected adults are often very ill for up to two months and as many as one-quarter of them require hospitalization. Full recovery can take up to six months.
How it spreads?
Hepatitis A(which is used to be known as infectious hepatitis) may be spread in several ways but the most common is by fecal oral route. This can happen if you go to the bathroom or change diaper of an infected baby and touch your mouth before washing your hands, thereby spreading the virus from the stool to your mouth. You can also get it if an infected food service worker handles your food or if your food comes in contact with water that contains the virus (for examples, raw shellfish from polluted waters or unpeeled fruit washes in contaminated water).
Some people have greater risk of getting hepatitis A, including people who travel to areas where the disease is common, people who engage in high risk sexual activity, who inject illicit drugs, sewage workers, health care workers, food handlers.

Hepatitis B

This form of the disease, which is caused by hepatitis B virus, used to be called Serum Hepatitis. It is found in the blood any body fluids, such as semen, vaginal fluids, saliva and breast milk. those people who do have symptoms may experience:
Flu-like illness, sometimes with a mild fever, nausea and vomiting, muscles and joint aches, fatigue, diarrhea, dull abdominal pain, itchy pain, jaundice, dark-colored urine, light-colored stools.
This is very serious disease but most people recover and are immune to this form of the disease for the rest of their lives. However, about 10% cannot get the virus out of their systems and they can spread the disease to others. These people are called chronic carriers. Chronic infection may lead to liver damage or live cancer.
How it spreads?
Hepatitis B spreads by direct contact with the body fluids from an infected person. The main ways are: through sexual intercourse, intravenous drugs use, passing from an infected women to her infant (either during pregnancy, at the time of delivery) or while breast feeding, sharing razors or toothbrushes.
Some people have greater risk of developing hepatitis B, including: people with multiple sexual partners and those with recent history of a STD(sexual transmitted disease), people who inject illicit drugs, kidney patient receiving haemodialysis treatments, people living with a hepatitis carrier, international travelers to areas with high rates who stay more than six months or who have sexual contact with local residents or contact with their blood, infant born to infected mothers.

Others forms of Hepatitis

• Hepatitis C virus, like hepatitis B may be spread through contact with contaminated blood or through household or sexual contact with an infected person.
• Hepatitis D is caused by the delta virus and it can only affect people who are already infected the hepatitis B virus. When it does become active in someone with hepatitis B, it is extremely dangerous. It is transmitted in the same way as the hepatitis B virus.
• Hepatitis E is generally acquired through contaminated food or water.
• Hepatitis F appears to produce a type af hepatitis that is similar to hepatitis C, in fact, that may scientist are not sure it is a separate virus.
• Hepatitis G is a newly identified form of the disease and not much is known about it. Scientist believe that it is probably transmitted in the same way as hepatitis C virus.