Your liver performs over 500 vital functions every day to keep you alive. Hepatitis is a contagious virus that can lead to liver disease. Testing, preventing, and treating hepatitis, a viral infection that causes liver inflammation, plays an important role in staying healthy.
In the U.S., chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C contribute to liver cancer. It is recommended by the CDC that all adults are tested for hepatitis B and hepatitis C at least once in their lifetime. Hepatitis testing during pregnancy is crucial. In fact, Georgia law requires that all women are tested for Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C during each pregnancy.
How is it spread?
Depending on the form of hepatitis, the infection can be spread in various ways. According to the WHO, some of the most common ways include contaminated food and water (hepatitis A and E) and bodily fluids or objects that come in contact with bodily fluids such as needles (hepatitis B, C, and D).
How do you prevent it?
There are many ways you can reduce your chances of getting hepatitis:
- Get the vaccines for hepatitis A and hepatitis B.
- Use a condom during sex.
- Don’t share or reuse needles or other personal items that come in contact with blood.
- Practice good personal hygiene, such as thorough hand-washing with soap and water.
- Don’t use an infected person’s personal items.
- Take precautions when getting any tattoos or body piercings.
- Take precautions when traveling to areas with poor sanitation. (Make sure to get your vaccines.)
- Drink bottled water when traveling.
It is very important that you take these preventive measures if you participate in risky behaviors. Take preventive steps, too, if you work in places like nursing homes, dormitories, daycare centers, or restaurants where there you have extended contact with other people and a risk of coming into contact with the disease.
What are the symptoms?
Common symptoms of viral hepatitis, according to the CDC, include:
- Abdominal pain, nausea, and/or vomiting
- Dark urine or clay-colored stools
- Diarrhea (HAV only)
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Jaundice
- Joint pain
- Loss of appetite
Most hepatitis symptoms only appear once the disease is advanced, with many people discovering they have hepatitis when they develop serious liver disease or cancer. According to WHO, nearly 220 million with hepatitis B are undiagnosed, while nearly 36 million people with hepatitis C are undiagnosed. Even after diagnosis, treatment and care for people living with hepatitis is astonishingly low. WHO states that of the 304 million people with hepatitis B and C, only 7 million are treated for hepatitis B and 12.5 million cured of hepatitis C.
So many hepatitis infections – and deaths – can be prevented when people practice prevention, get tested, and when infected, get treatment.
To schedule free Hepatitis C testing call 678-442-6897.
Give us a call to find out your prevention options. It may save your life.
Additional Information:
Sources:
www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/hepatitis
my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4245-hepatitis-viral-hepatitis-a-b–c#prevention
www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/hcp/clinical-overview/index.html