Hepatitis B
Your liver is the largest organ inside your body. It helps your body digest food, store energy, and remove poisons. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. One type, hepatitis B, is caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Hepatitis B spreads by contact with an infected person's blood, semen, or other body fluid. An infected woman can give hepatitis B to her baby at birth.
Hepatitis B is a
virus that infects the liver. Most adults who get it have it for a
short time and then get better. This is called acute hepatitis B.
Sometimes the virus causes
a long-term infection, called chronic hepatitis B. Over time, it can damage
your liver. Babies and young children infected with the virus are more likely
to get chronic hepatitis B.
You can have hepatitis B and not know it. You may not have symptoms. If
you do, they can make you feel like you have the flu. But as long as you have
the virus, you can spread it to others.
It's
caused by
the hepatitis B virus. It
is
spread through contact with the blood and body
fluids of an infected person.You may get hepatitis B if you:-
- Have sex with an infected person without using a condom.
- Share needles (used for injecting drugs) with an infected person.
- Get a tattoo or piercing with tools that weren't sterilized.
- Share personal items like razors or toothbrushes with an infected person.
A mother who has the virus can pass it to her baby during
delivery. Medical experts recommend that all pregnant women get tested for hepatitis
B. If you have the virus, your baby can get shots to help prevent
infection with the virus.
You cannot get
hepatitis B from casual contact such as hugging, kissing, sneezing, coughing,
or sharing food or drinks.
Many people with hepatitis
B don't know they have it, because they don't have symptoms. If you do have
symptoms, you may just feel like you have the flu. Symptoms include:
- Feeling very tired.
- Mild fever.
- Headache.
- Not wanting to eat.
- Feeling sick to your stomach or vomiting.
- Belly pain.
- Diarrhea or constipation.
- Muscle aches and joint pain.
- Skinrash.
- Yellowish eyes and skin (jaundice). Jaundice usually appears only after other symptoms have started to go away.
Most people with chronic hepatitis B have no
symptoms
A simple blood test
can tell your doctor if you have the hepatitis B virus now or if you had it in
the past. Your doctor also may be able to tell if you have had the vaccine to
prevent the virus.
If your doctor thinks you may have liver
damage
from hepatitis B, he or she may use a needle to
take a tiny
sample of your
liver for testing. This is called a
liver biopsy.
What are the risks from hepatitis B vaccine ?
Hepatitis B is a very safe vaccine. Most people do not have any problems with it. The vaccine contains non-infectious material, and cannot cause hepatitis B infection. Severe problems are extremely rare. Severe allergic reactions are believed to occur about once in 1.1 million
doses.
Treatment of short-term (acute) hepatitis B
Treatment depends on whether you :
- Have been recently infected with the virus.
- Have the symptoms of an acute infection.
- Have chronic infection.
If you have not gotten a hepatitis B vaccine and think you may have been exposed to the virus, you
should get a shot of
hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and the first of
three shots of
the hepatitis B vaccine. It is important to receive this treatment within 7 days
after a needle stick and within 2 weeks after sexual contact that may have
exposed you to the virus. The sooner you receive treatment after exposure, the
better the treatment works.
If
you have the symptoms of acute
infection, treatment with antiviral medicine usually isn't needed.
Home treatment—such as eating well, drinking plenty of fluids, and
avoiding alcohol and drugs—
usually will relieve your symptoms.
In some cases, you
may be given medicine to treat an acute infection. But using medicine usually isn't done unless a person is very sick.
Treatment of long-term (chronic) hepatitis B
Treatment depends on how active the
virus is in your body and your chance of liver damage. The goal of treatment
is to stop liver damage by keeping the virus from multiplying.
Antiviral medicine is used if the virus is active and you are at risk
for liver damage. Medicine slows the ability of the virus to multiply.
Antiviral treatment isn't given to everyone who
has chronic hepatitis B.
