How can you get infected with hepatitis B and C: transmission routes

Infection is possible in the following ways

• In case of poor-quality processing of instruments used for manicure, pedicure, piercing or tattooing, dental and surgical instruments.

• For vaginal or anal sex without using a condom.

• From mother to child during childbirth. The chances of infecting a newborn are especially high if a woman has an acute illness in the last weeks of pregnancy, but some children become infected while still in the womb.

• With a blood transfusion from an infected donor.

• Drug addicts when using shared needles.

You can protect yourself from hepatitis B with a vaccine. Household way, that is, through common combs, dishes, towels and linen, It can not be transmitted… The disease occurs in both acute and chronic forms.

Infection occurs through the blood. This is how the virus enters the body.

• In case of unscrupulous sterilization of tattoo or piercing instruments, manicure or pedicure. For infection, a very small particle of infected blood must remain on them.

• With unprotected anal sex, since it is considered quite traumatic, there is a risk of damaging the rectal mucosa.

• When using an infected person’s toothbrush. This is possible if he has bleeding gums or wounds on the oral mucosa.

• When using a common shaving razor, as there is always a risk of accidentally cutting yourself.

• For medical manipulation of contaminated blood.

• With the joint use of injecting drugs.

• With an infected blood transfusion.

Hepatitis C is not transmitted through food, water, hugging and shaking hands, as well as airborne droplets. Infection requires contact with the blood of a sick person. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C… A mother with hepatitis C is not advised to breastfeed, as there may be microcracks on the nipples.

To minimize the risk of contracting the hepatitis virus, necessary lead a healthy lifestyle, refrain from promiscuous sexual intercourse, visit only those tattoo parlors and beauty salons, the quality of which is beyond doubt.

О symptoms of hepatitis and the connection of the disease with liver cancer Wday.ru was told by oncologist Andrei Lvovich Pylev.

Hepatitis symptoms

The incubation period of hepatitis B is 12 weeks on average, during which the virus actively multiplies in the liver cells. During this period, there may appear:

• weakness;

• lethargy;

• pain in the muscles;

• lack of appetite.

If liver function is impaired, signs of jaundice may appear:

• stomach ache;

• darker color of urine;

• yellowing of the whites of the eyes.

Acute hepatitis can be asymptomatic. 

Unlike the B-form, hepatitis C, entering the human body, may not manifest itself for up to 6 months. But as its acute form develops, it can be observed:

• enlarged liver;

• upset of the gastrointestinal tract;

• sleep disturbance;

• dark brown urine should be an alarming sign;

For the most part, no clinical manifestations arise during infection, for many years a person can be a carrier of the virus and not even suspect about it. During this time, the virus takes on a chronic form and gradually destroys the liver, provoking the onset of a tumor process.

Cancer roasted

Cancer in hepatitis is common. Inflammation of the liver with a long course of the disease and the absence of proper therapy leads to malignant degeneration of tissues. Often, the appearance of a tumor is preceded by cirrhosis (irreversible changes in the liver, causing a persistent disruption of its work), which then degenerates into a cancerous tumor.

Under the influence of negative factors, the usual renewal of liver cells is disrupted, they begin to divide uncontrollably and quickly, without having time to reach a mature state. Liver cancer can occur both due to gene mutations caused by hepatitis viruses and as a result of chronic inflammation caused by an infection.

Primary liver cancer is of two types: hepatocellular – develops from the liver’s own cells, and cholangiocellular cancer, develops from cells of the intrahepatic bile ducts. They are responsible for removing bile from the liver into the gallbladder or directly into the intestines.