The liver is generally considered one of the most vital and important organs of our body and nutritional system. So taking care of our liver is very important, anytime the liver gets infected, the functioning of our body also hampers. One of the most common diseases that happens to an individual’s liver is Hepatitis, Hepatitis can be of different types and today we are going to talk about three types of Hepatitis:- Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C. The basic function of a liver in our body is to maintain our overall health, it helps in filtration of blood preventing it from toxins, to produce bile helping in fat digestion, detoxification, metabolism etc.
We are going to talk about how they are transmitted, their symptoms, treatment and prevention.
What is Hepatitis?
Hepaties comes from the Greek word “Hepa” means “liver” and “Tites” means “Inflammation” which stands for inflammation of the liver. When the liver gets inflammated particularly due to infections etc then the disease is known as Hepatites. Hepatites are mainly of 5 types:-
1. Hepatites A
2. Hepatites B
3. Hepatites C
An individual can suffer from temporary Hepatites(acute) or permanent Hepatites(long-lasting)
Hepatitis A:
The first hepatitis that we are going to talk about is hepatitis that is short term, meaning it doesn’t last too long and is considered the least worrying type of Hepatites also referred to as Hepatites A. It is generally caused by HAV also known as Hepatitis A virus.
Transmission
Hepatitis A is a transmissible disease meaning it can be transmitted from one individual to the other. Hepatitis A transmitted from fecal-oral route. A fecal-oral route transmission means disease where pathogens from an infected person’s feces gets transferred to another person’s mouth, it can be due to multiple reasons like; bad sanitation etc.
Symptoms
Hepatitis A has different symptoms that can help you identify it:-
-Fatigue
-Fever
-Taste loss
-Dark Urine
-Jaundice
Treatment
Since Hepatites A falls under the category of acute Hepatites, taking rest, proper and healty nutrition would be enough for you.
Prevention
– Taking Hepatitis A vaccine would be ideal.
– Maintain Hygiene
– Safe and Healthy diet
– Proper Good Sanitation.
Hepatitis B:
The next type of Hepatites we are going to talk about is Hepatitis B, this type of hepatitis is caused due to the HBV which stands for Hepatitis B virus. Hepatitis B unlike A can either be acute or chronic which makes it very dangerous as you could take this easily like Hepatitis A and can end up having been infected by a much serious disease.
Transmission
This is generally transmitted through blood or semen from other individuals who are affected by it. Common routes include:
– Unprotected sexual contact
– due to contaminated injections
– Sharing of personal items that can get contaminated easily like toothpaste etc
– Blood transfusions (rare today due to screening practices)
Symptoms
Since Hepatitis B can be both acute and chronic, finding symptoms are very hard.
– Extreme fatigue
– Vomiting
– Feeling Pain in the abdomen
– Yellow skin and eyes
– Joint pain
Treatment
If you are having an acute Hepatitis B then like Hepatitis A, taking care of yourself and your hygiene would be enough but if you have chronic Hepatitis B then it should be treated by doctors with the help of medications such as tenofovir and entecavir, reducing your chronic disease. Make sure to take chronic ones seriously as treating it easily can result in Cirrhosis.
Prevention
– Taking Hepatitis B vaccine doesn’t matter the age
– Using Condoms
– Sharing Person items should be avoided
– Improve Healthcare Setting
Hepatitis C:
Caused by the Hepatitis C virus it is considered the most dangerous type of Hepatitis as it generally leads to chronic liver disease and is known as Hepatitis C
Transmission
Unlike Hepatitis A and B, Hepatitis C doesn’t gets transmitted due to many forms, mostly it transmitted with blood to blood contact.
– Sharing razor or other personal used things
– Sharing of drug paraphernalia
– Contaminated needles in tier-3 hospitals
– Due to infected blood transfer to a child via mother
Symptoms
Generally, like we mentioned Hepatitis C doesn’t have too many symptoms which makes it very dangerous for an individual to figure out.
– Persistent fatigue
– Nausea and poor appetite
– Abdominal discomfort
– Jaundice in advanced stages
– Itchy skin
Treatment
In earlier times treatment of Hepatitis C was very hard but in the modern era doctors have found a cure to treat Hepatitis C, it is treated using Direct-Acting Antivirals also known as DAA. The antivirus has proven to be very successful with a high success rate helping people to cure within 8-12 weeks.
Prevention
– Getting contacted with blood especially infected should be avoided
– Tier 3 or 4 cities should get good healthcare hospitals
– Safe Sex can help
– Reduce Contamination with other people personal items
Hepatitis A, B and C: What’s the Difference?
Similarities: The main similarity between Hepatitis A, b and c is that they all are curable, meaning all these were not properly cured but now Hepatitis c can be cured, in addition all the three affect the liver.
Differences:
Hepatitis A:- It is acute, caused by HAV and self healing.
Hepatitis B :- It can be acute and chronic and is the result of HBV
Hepatitis C:- It`s largely chronic – has to do with blood contact – and isn`t very curable
FAQ:
Q1: Can I suffer from Hepatitis A again?
ANS. After suffering from Hepatitis A there is very minimal chance of having to suffer from it again since you already would get its antivirus.
Q2: Is Hepatitis B curable like Hepatitis A?
ANS. Unlike Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B are of both acute and chronic so the acute one is curable but chronic hepatitis is not curable.
Q3: Similar to cold, does Hepatitis C get transmitted from anything?
ANS. Cold and Hepatitis are two different things, hepatitis gets transmitted C gets transmitted only from blood to blood.
Q4: Which type of people should get Hepatitis B vaccine?
ANS. Any person can take Hepatitis B vaccine whether it is children, adults, women, men etc.
Q5：Is liver transplant the only option for severe cases?
ANS. It depends but someone with chronic hepatitis comes under a very serious category and should take doctor advice and perhaps needs a liver transplant.