The hepatitis B virus, 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV, kills over 6 lakh people every year worldwide. The incidence among the Indian population may be about 2-5 percent, according to WHO. Creating awareness against the deadly virus is the only solution.
MEDICAL HEALTH EDUCATION ON HEPATITIS VIRUS
Introduction: LIVER diseases do not get as much media space as cancer and heart ailments, but they are equally menacing and deadly. The most important of these is hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver, which is caused by a viral infection.
Hepatitis is of five types: A, B, C, D and E. While hepatitis A and E are caused by the consumption of contaminated food and water, hepatitis B, C and D most commonly occur due to contact with infected body fluids like blood and semen, and contaminated injections.
Hepatitis B and C can lead to chronic (long-term) diseases such as liver cancer and liver cirrhosis. Liver cancer is almost always fatal, with most patients in developing countries dying within a few months of diagnosis. Liver cirrhosis patients are sometimes given liver transplants, with mixed success.
The deadly killer
Hepatitis B is the most dangerous type of viral hepatitis. About 2 billion people are estimated to be infected with it. The incidence among the Indian population may be about 2-5 per cent, according to WHO. When infected with hepatitis B virus, about 80 per cent of the people do not show any symptoms during the short term (acute) phase. Since they remain unaware of the ailment, it is easy for them to transmit the virus to others. So be aware of it to make your and other life healthy and fit.
Sign And Symptoms:Treatment: There is no specific treatment for acute hepatitis B and most patients recover after a few weeks without any medication. Sometimes, the hepatitis B virus may reside in a patient’s body for years (chronic phase) and damage the liver by causing serious life-threatening diseases. Blood tests can diagnose people with hepatitis B and distinguish between acute and chronic infections. Age is an important factor in determining if hepatitis B will remain acute (run for a few weeks) or turn chronic (life-long). The lower the age of a person getting infected with hepatitis B, the higher are the chances of the infection turning chronic. Young children infected with hepatitis B are the most likely to develop chronic infection. About one-fourth of adults, who get chronically infected during childhood, succumb to liver cancer or cirrhosis later. That is why it is extremely important to protect children from hepatitis B infection. This can be done through vaccination.
The symptoms, if these occur, include jaundice, dark urine, vomiting and stomach pain.
About 15 crore people in the world are infected with Hepatitis C, around 3.5 lakh of whom die every year to complications related to the virus, according to WHO.
Unfortunately at this time there is no preventive vaccine for hepatitis C currently available. It is curable using anti-viral drugs but the treatment is very expensive, much beyond the capacity of most patients in developing countries. So awareness with your Health and Fitness can save you from such viruses