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Malawi Health Care Support UK
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| Hepatitis | |
Hepatitis B Virus(Colour Enhanced, 120,000x) |
Hepatitis is caused by a fairly hardy virus.
Both Hepatitis A and B viruses are resistant to heating, drying and chlorination.
Hepatitis A is transmitted by the faecal-oral route. That is to say it is shed in faeces, and picked up by ingestion. This is usually a cause of bad food hygiene, although person-to-person contact can also spread the disease. Hepatitis B is a sexually transmitted disease. It is usually caught via injections, for example during blood transfusions. However, any exchange of bodily fluids can result in the virus being transmitted. Both of these forms of the hepatitis virus attack the cells of the liver. All the symptoms associated with hepatitis stem from the decrease in liver function. |
After this period the first symptoms are usually tiredness and fever. Sufferers often also have chills as well as a loss of appetite. Muscle pains and spasms may follow, along with headaches. There is inflammation of the liver, which also becomes tender and urine may become discoloured. As some of these symptoms lessen, jaundice starts to appear. This is accompanied by nausea, vomiting and abdominal discomfort. This period lasts about 2 weeks, then patients usually start to recover. The recovery period usually lasts many months. During this time the original symptoms may reappear occasionally.
Hepatitis sufferers are not usually given any special drug based treatment to cure them. Nearly everyone recovers naturally as the body produces more anti-bodies to the invading virus. However, there are effective hepatitis vaccines. Normally, treatment for hepatitis involves bed rest and care. However, because of the recovery time this can be a drawn out, expensive process.