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Different in symptoms, but equally dangerous in terms of the severity and irreversibility of the consequences of infection, which make up a whole group of diseases caused by hepatitis and affecting the liver, are known to mankind as “jaundice”.
Even the most hardened body and the strongest immune system are almost powerless against these viruses. The fight against the “clan” of hepatitis is quite real, and it gives the maximum effect in the form of prevention.
Hepatitis is just the case when the banal truth: “It is easier to prevent than to cure” proves to be historically correct, since viral hepatitis are insidious in nature, and some of them are life-threatening. Therefore, preventive measures are always appropriate and always effective, because it is thanks to prevention that 60 people out of 100 manage to avoid infection.
Acute and chronic forms of diseases
With an adequate response of the immune system to the appearance of a foreign microbody (virus) in the body, the program for the destruction of the aggressive pathogen is “turned on”, which allows you to cope with the disease on your own. Of course, some medications, bed rest and a special diet are needed.
Subject to medical recommendations, the disease recedes in a couple of weeks, leaving behind damaged liver cells and the need for a patient’s diet. This is the so-called mild form – acute hepatitis. Basically, it is caused by a group A pathogen and does not cause much damage to the body.
But there are more dangerous hepatitis that can cross out not only the health of the liver, but also endanger human life. This is possible for hepatitis B and C.
If at the time of infection, the immune system turned out to be weakened and not ready to repel viral attacks, then the likelihood of the disease moving into a severe chronic form is not ruled out.
Hepatitis A Prevention
Among the most common and dangerous “diseases of unwashed hands”, hepatitis A confidently holds the primacy. The risk group for infection includes, first of all, children of preschool and primary school age, who, due to their expressiveness and impatience, eat unwashed fruits or rush to grab a sandwich with dirty hands, or did not say goodbye to the habit of putting fingers, toys, pencils in your mouth.
Such carelessness leads to infection with hepatitis and can endanger the health of the entire family, since this virus is transmitted by the fecal-oral route. This type of transmission can cause an epidemic, as happened in the Czech Republic in 2008.
The main ways of infection:
contact with an infected person, use of common hygiene items;
upon contact with contaminated water;
consumption of food containing viruses.
Symptoms:
the first three days after the incubation period – an increase in temperature to 400;
in parallel with the appearance of cough, runny nose and tearing – photophobia uncharacteristic of colds;
nausea and loss of appetite;
headache.
It should be emphasized that the symptoms also depend on the age of the diseased: children never show a complete clinical picture, their skin color remains normal throughout the entire period of the disease. Yellowing of the skin is observed only in adults. If the yellowness began to appear more and more noticeably, know that the disease has passed into the non-dangerous stage. Often, yellowing of the skin accompanies a decrease in temperature and the disappearance of pain.
Preventive measures:
avoid drinking water from unfamiliar sources, do not swim in ponds of questionable purity. This also applies to beaches that are too “densely populated” during the summer heat, as well as reservoirs into which sewage water flows;
be sure to follow basic hygiene standards and wash your hands after each visit to the toilet, after coming from the street and before eating;
maintain cleanliness in the premises;
personal hygiene items must have one owner, they cannot be shared with others;
be sure to wash vegetables and fruits very carefully before use in clean running water;
never use uncomposted manure as fertilizer.
Prevention of hepatitis E
The group E virus is very similar in its course and ways of infection to hepatitis A. For some time it was considered a type of hepatitis A, but the disease proved its independence, affecting people of a certain age – from 15 to 30 years.
Mostly men are at risk of infection, but if a pregnant woman falls ill, then all the forces of both doctors and her own body must be thrown to the rescue. There is no official explanation yet, but the fact remains that every fifth person does not survive after hepatitis E.
Symptoms:
nausea;
temperature increase;
lack of appetite;
weakness;
yellowing of the skin occurs 4-10 days after the first signs of the disease appear.
Preventive measures:
since the virus is common in the countries of Central Asia, when going there on a tourist or business trip, special attention should be paid to the quality of water – drink only bottled or boiled water;
wash vegetables and fruits only with clean water.
Prevention of hepatitis B
The most dangerous and intractable of hepatitis, affecting people of the most “blooming” age – from 20 to 40 years. Perhaps this is predetermined by one of the reasons for the transmission of the pathogen – the virus is easy to “pick up” by practicing casual sex.
It is problematic that the diagnosis of hepatitis B is impossible without laboratory tests and that it “has” a fairly long incubation period – up to 120 days.
Ways of infection:
sexually in the absence of a permanent partner and passion for casual relationships;
during blood transfusion (10 ml of serum containing the virus is enough for infection);
when using contaminated piercing and cutting household items and personal hygiene;
in case of negligence of medical staff (poorly disinfected instruments);
when using contaminated tools in nail salons and dental clinics;
from mother to fetus during gestation.
symptomatology
The first manifestations are rather sluggish and blurry, so it is very difficult to determine the disease:
nausea and vomiting;
loss of appetite;
discomfort in the stomach, expressed by “stone” heaviness;
joint pain;
distinct pain in the right hypochondrium.
Preventive measures:
avoiding a dissolute sexual life, and in case of sexual intercourse with an unfamiliar partner, the mandatory use of a condom;
availability of disposable instruments for clinical blood analysis;
strict control by medical workers over the use and disinfection of instruments and instruments;
it is forbidden to lend personal hygiene items (shaving machines, scissors, manicure sets) for temporary use;
Vaccination remains the most effective prevention.
The risk group for infection with the most insidious and dangerous of hepatitis includes doctors working with blood, patients undergoing surgery, children born from an infected mother, people who are promiscuous, and drug addicts.
Prevention of hepatitis C
The danger of class C hepatitis lies in its ability to create a variety of subtypes and in the absence of pronounced symptoms. As practice shows, the disease is diagnosed absolutely by chance, and meanwhile, more than 2% of the world’s population is infected with hepatitis C.
Anyone can be at risk, but the most susceptible are regulars of tattoo parlors, children whose mothers suffered this disease during pregnancy, patients of surgical departments.
A characteristic feature and, as already mentioned, the main insidiousness of hepatitis C is its rapid development into cirrhosis after an imperceptible period of development.
Ways of infection:
through non-sterile instruments and personal hygiene items;
from mother to fetus;
with blood transfusion;
during intercourse.
Symptoms:
feeling of weakness and weakness;
fatigue;
joint pain;
indigestion.
Preventive measures:
exercise extreme caution when choosing a dental clinic, tattoo or nail salon;
do not allow strangers to use your personal hygiene items in this case, even family members are considered strangers);
be selective in sexual relations or carry a condom with you at all times.
Diagnostics
To detect the hepatitis C virus, a biochemical blood test, an analysis for antibodies to the virus and a general blood test, as well as a number of studies, including ultrasound of the abdominal cavity, are used.
To combat the disease caused by the class C virus, many effective drugs have been invented – therefore, with timely and accurate diagnosis, the risk of its development and the occurrence of complications can be minimized. However, there is no vaccine against hepatitis C yet, as a “vaccination” you need to use only your own discretion and caution.
Prevention of hepatitis D
This virus is defined as parasitic, unable to exist without the shell of the hepatitis B virus, which serves as an auxiliary component for the spread of the virus in the human body.
The genetic information of the virus is contained in the RNA molecule, and the “packaging” is the already mentioned white shell.
A characteristic complication of the course of the disease caused by hepatitis D is one of the formidable diseases – hepatic coma.
Ways of infection:
parenteral (from the carrier, bypassing the protective barriers of the body);
cuts through wounds, by injections;
during sexual intercourse.
Symptoms:
fever;
pain in the liver (manifested in 50% of those infected);
so-called wandering pain in the joints. Feelable in the knees, elbows;
nausea;
lack of appetite;
weakness and fatigue;
sensations of a swollen liver or spleen are possible.
Preventive measures:
control over the quality of donor blood;
effective measures for the disinfection of medical instruments;
disinfection of equipment in cosmetic, manicure and tattoo parlors;
use of condoms during sexual intercourse;
vaccination with a preparation intended for the prevention of hepatitis B;
awareness of the population about safety measures and disease prevention.
Prevention of hepatitis G
Even doctors who are accustomed to precise definitions call this virus figuratively – the younger brother of hepatitis C, since it has the same routes of entry into the body and similar symptoms, but it is not characterized by complications in the form of cirrhosis and liver cancer.
The risk group includes, first of all, drug addicts, as well as those in need of a blood transfusion or surgery.
Ways of infection:
poorly tested donated blood;
sexual contact with a carrier of the virus;
non-sterile medical instruments.
Symptoms:
increased body temperature;
general malaise;
headache and body aches;
decreased or complete lack of appetite;
nausea and vomiting;
pain under the right rib;
darkening of urine and discoloration of feces.
The main danger lies in the inconsistency of symptoms: they are either present or disappear, and therefore in the early days you can not attach importance to them and confuse a dangerous disease with ordinary fatigue or manifestations of depression.
When proceeding as an independent disease, hepatitis G does not manifest itself in an icteric form.
Preventive measures:
responsible approach to the process of preparing reusable medical instruments and donated blood (for medical staff);
performing simple medical manipulations with disposable instruments;
the use of precautions during sexual intercourse;
vaccination.