Hepatitis: From A to G
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver most commonly caused by one of several viruses. More than 150,000 hepatitis infections occur each year in the United States, but the different viruses cause different health problems.
Hepatitis A is an acute illness. Once a person has survived the infection, he or she is immune for life and has no lingering health effects. Hepatitis B, C and D can become chronic diseases, damaging the liver. Hepatitis E and G are much more rare and less damaging than B, C or D.
It's important to protect yourself against hepatitis infection because of the potential damage to your liver.
Your liver is the body's chemical plant, according to the Hepatitis Foundation International. It contains trillions of cells that perform more than 5,000 functions to keep you alive and alert. Everything you eat, breathe and absorb through your skin has to be refined and detoxified by your liver.
Symptoms
These are symptoms of an acute hepatitis infection, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK):
Adults will have these symptoms more often than children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, not everyone with a hepatitis infection has symptoms.
A vaccine is available to prevent hepatitis A. The CDC recommends the vaccine for children older than 2 and adults who travel to areas where the rate of hepatitis A infection is high. It is also recommended for men who have sex with men; for drug abusers; people with clotting-factor disorders such as hemophilia; and anyone with chronic liver disease.
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is transmitted through contaminated feces. That's one reason why the hand-washing reminders in restaurant bathrooms are important. If a food handler with hepatitis A fails to wash hands after having a bowel movement, then prepares a salad or other uncooked menu item, customers may contract hepatitis A by eating the food.
Babies and young children also can be infected with hepatitis A, so washing hands after changing a diaper in a day-care setting is very important to prevent the spread of the virus. Raw shellfish harvested from contaminated waters where ships deposit their waste also may contain hepatitis A.
Hepatitis A is relatively widespread, but in almost all cases the disease will clear up on its own, with no long-term aftereffects. Symptoms may last from three to six weeks, to as long as six months. After the infection ends, however, the person is immune from further infection. The liver completely heals within one to two months.
An effective hepatitis A vaccine is available. The CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices now recommends that all children be vaccinated against hepatitis A as part of routine childhood immunizations. At-risk adults also should be vaccinated.
Hepatitis B, C and D
Hepatitis B and C are carried in the blood and bodily fluids. They can cause serious liver damage over time and can be difficult or impossible to treat. About 30 percent of people with hepatitis B have no signs or symptoms, although some may experience something like the flu. Symptoms that do develop are the same as those for the acute infection of hepatitis A. Most adults infected with hepatitis B fight off their infections, become immune and no longer are infectious.
In a chronic liver infection, the virus gradually kills off liver cells, and over time the healthy, living tissue is replaced by nonfunctioning scar tissue. This scarring of the liver, which may occur over a period of many years, is called cirrhosis. The process is painless, but the scar tissue eventually blocks the blood flow through the liver. This causes a backup of pressure, resulting in varicose veins in the esophagus and stomach. As the pressure increases, the veins can rupture, causing a life-threatening hemorrhage.
About 10 percent of people infected with hepatitis B develop the chronic illness, which also can lead to liver cancer.
Hepatitis B is spread through sexual intercourse with an infected partner, and through contaminated needles and drug paraphernalia of IV drug abuse. Hepatitis B can also be transmitted from mother to child. Only rarely is it spread through casual contact, which is why household members should be vaccinated.
Several vaccines are available to prevent hepatitis B. It is for children and adolescents as part of their routine immunizations. The vaccine is also important for people who follow higher risk behaviors and for health care providers. Ask your health care provider if you need to be vaccinated. If someone living in your household has hepatitis B, have other family members tested to see if they have it. If they do not have it, make sure they are vaccinated against it.
Hepatitis C, a very slowly progressing disease, leads to chronic infection in 55 to 85 percent of cases. About 80 percent of people infected with this virus have no symptoms until serious damage -- such as cirrhosis or liver cancer -- has occurred.
Hepatitis C is spread through contaminated needles and paraphernalia of drug abuse, through needle sticks of health care workers and from an infected mother to her infant at birth. Hemodialysis patients also are at risk for contracting this illness.
There is no vaccine currently available against hepatitis C.
Hepatitis D can only be contracted if a person also has hepatitis B. People with the combined infection may have a more severe acute form of the disease than those who have just hepatitis B. Up to 80 percent of people with the combined infection develop chronic liver disease in the form of cirrhosis.
Hepatitis D, like hepatitis B, is spread through sexual contact with an infected partner and through IV drug abuse. There is no vaccine against hepatitis D, but immunization against hepatitis B effectively prevents hepatitis D. That is because a person can't be infected with hepatitis D if he or she doesn't have hepatitis B.
Hepatitis E and G
These forms of viral hepatitis are much more rare in this country. Hepatitis E is spread through contaminated feces that enter food or water. Hepatitis G is spread through blood and is similar to hepatitis C. Because these two forms of hepatitis are so rare, the long-term effects of these two viruses are not known. Although the letter "F" was assigned to another potential hepatitis virus, subsequent research did not verify its existence. That letter designation is no longer used.
Prevention steps
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If you are at risk, get immunized against hepatitis B. Currently, no hepatitis C vaccine is available.
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If someone in your household has hepatitis B or C, don't share razors, toothbrushes, body-piercing instruments, nail clippers or anything else that might have an infected person's blood on it.
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If someone in your household has hepatitis B or C, clean up blood spills with a 1-to-10 solution of bleach and detergent, and protect your hands by wearing gloves.
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If you are unsure of your sexual partner's hepatitis status, use a latex condom.
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Don't inject drugs. Use of illicit IV drugs can transmit hepatitis B and C, HIV and other diseases.