William
Hepatitis B is a disease of the liver caused by (HBV) infection, which can either lead to severe hepatitis with symptoms such as fever, nausea, vomiting or jaundice.
How transmission occurs?
Contact with infected blood and unprotected sex are the two main forms of transmission in the industrialized world. In developing countries, mother-to-child transmission is also an important form of contagion, reaching as high as 90 percent in hyperendemic areas.
The disease can not be spread by sweat or saliva (unless it has been in contact with infected blood), and there can be no contagion through handshaking, hugging, kissing, air,coughing or sneezing or using dishes or cutlery from infected people.
It has a natural relationship with drug users, since in the use of drugs like cocaine and heroin there is sharing of syringes, which ends up promoting contamination.
However, contagion can occur through sexual intercourse since type B virus is present in large concentrations in the fluid of the vagina and semen, which causes hepatitis B to be considered as STD – Sexually Transmitted Disease.
Other body fluids, such as breast-milk itself, may present B-type transmission routes.
In the specific maternal case, the contamination may occur through breastfeeding or at the time of delivery. Therefore, medical monitoring and prenatal examinations are highly necessary to avoid contamination of the child.
As type B virus is present in the blood of the infected organism, it should be recognized that the first form of hepatitis B transmission is the blood contact between a carrier of the virus and a non-carrier of the virus.
Note that even routine activities such as getting a manicure, a tattoo and acupuncture sessions should take special notice of how these professionals sterilize their tools in order to avoid contamination of individuals sharing instruments used in these activities.
Symptoms
Once contaminated, the virus installs itself in the liver, where it takes advantage of every biochemical apparatus of the body to reproduce itself, producing viral proteins and new viruses.
In general the incubation period is asymptomatic, but after this period the acute phase of the disease begins and are responsible for symptoms such as fever, excessive physical exhaustion, pain in the abdominal region, lack of appetite, yellowing of the skin and eyes, urine of dark color and nausea.
If the body can not fight infection through its defense mechanisms, the disease eventually progresses to the chronic phase, where the severity is critical and there is a risk of serious complications such as cirrhosis, liver cancer, brain damage, fluid in the abdominal cavity and liver failure.
Treatment
Most of the type B virus can fight infection from the body’s own defense system – the immune system.
However, for the acute phase of the disease, care is said to be palliative, that is, the treatment aims to ease the symptoms and control them.
In the chronic phase, treatment is given through the use of antiviral agents, which will fight viral infection along with the immune system.
Prevention:
The use of condoms in sexual relations, the non-sharing of syringes, the use of disposable syringes, analysis of blood to be made available for transfusion and donated organs, prenatal examination and orientation of the mother, adequate sterilization of invasive instruments such as nail pliers and acupuncture needles.
The main and most effective form of prevention is the vaccine against type B virus.
The vaccine is made up of inactivated type B viruses (these are called HBs) and their level is measured by a blood count. Thus, for a positive result reported by the laboratory analysis in a quantitative way, it usually appears as follows: Anti-HBs – Positive 80, mUI / ml and in front of or below the reference values (unreactive or negative = less than 10 mIU / ml, and reagent or positive = above 10 mIU /
ml). In this way, this result is positive, with a result higher than 10 mIU / ml which enables immunity against the B virus.
Main symptoms
The incubation period is 2 to 6 months, so the signs and symptoms of acute hep B may appear after 1 to 3 months of the contamination.
The initial symptoms include:
1.Numbness
2.Vomiting
3.Fatigue
4.Low fever
5.Lack of appetite
6.Abdominal pain
7.Pain in joints and muscles
8.Symptoms such as yellowing of the skin and eyes
9.Dark urine and light stools mean that the condition has worsened
10. Swollen blood vessels
In chronic hep B, most patients do not show any symptoms, but the virus continues in the body and can be transmitted in the same way.
What are the symptoms? How does it develop?
Patients are often asymptomatic upon acquiring the disease, and may or may not present the symptoms at an advanced stage. Individuals may experience generalized malaise, head and body aches,tiredness, lack of appetite and fever.
Shortly thereafter, yellowing of the mucous membranes and skin (jaundice), itching of the body, dark urine, and light stools typically appear. At the end of 10 to 15 days, the general symptoms decrease a lot, even in the case of jaundice, which tends to disappear from 6 to 8 weeks on average, suggesting a cure in more than 95% of people.
