Know your basics

Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Heavy alcohol use, toxins, some medications, and certain medical conditions can cause hepatitis. However, it is most often caused by a virus. The most common types of viral hepatitis are Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C.

Hepatitis B is caused by the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), which can be transmitted through blood, sex, shared needles, and from an infected mother to her new-born during deliver. It spreads because many people are unaware they are infected with the virus and unknowingly pass it on to those who are in close contact with them.

Although most people successfully recover from an HBV infection and develop antibodies against the virus, up to 10 per cent of infected adults fail to clear the virus from their bodies. The major concern for those with chronic Hepatitis B is that after many years of infection, they have an increased possibility of developing cirrhosis and/or liver cancer.

People who are at high risk of the disease include injection drug users, household contacts of chronically infected persons, infants born to infected mothers, persons with multiple sex partners or diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease, infants and children of immigrants from areas with high rates of Hepatitis B, healthcare and public safety workers and haemodialysis patients (or people who use a kidney machine).

Some people who do have symptoms of Hep B might show yellowing skin or eyes (or Jaundice), loss of appetite, tiredness, muscle, joint, or stomach pain and stomach upset, diarrhoea, or vomiting.

Risk factors for Hepatitis C include people over 50 years of age; who received donated blood or organs before 1992; who have ever injected drugs, even if it was just once or many years ago; ones who have certain medical conditions, such as chronic liver disease and HIV or AIDS; who have abnormal liver tests or liver disease and have been exposed to blood from a person who has Hepatitis C or are born to a mother with Hepatitis C.

The only way to know if you have Hepatitis C is to get tested. Doctors use a blood test, called a Hepatitis C Antibody Test, which looks for antibodies to the virus. (The writer is Consultant Gastroenterlogist and Hepatologist at Citizens Hospital, Hyderabad)

By Dr Sarada Pasangulapati