Hepatitis B | Hepatitis B Awareness Challenge

Greetings to you dear friends. How is life treating y'all? Trusting God y'all are doing great? I'm going good too. Thanks @ahsansharif for putting up this contest.

Source

What is Hepatitis B, and how doors it affect the liver?

The word hepa is derived from hepatocytes which are cells found specifically in the liver. Titis is a medical terminology that means inflammation. It is used to describe any inflammatory conditions affecting any part of the body.

Hepatitis as I often regard as a silent killer, is a viral infection that is caused by the Hepatitis B virus. Most persons with such infection often have their liver inflamed and when proper care and attentions is not given, it results in liver damage. Many a times, people who have been diagnosed of Hepatitis B virus are often adviced to avoid certain foods and other special foods are recommended for them. Even with this, we still have cases of those who refused to adhere to medical advices, they keep eating whatsoever they liked and at the end, they have to pay the supreme price (death) when the liver is completely damaged.

Hepatitis B virus can affect the liver in diverse ways. Some of which include:

1. Hepatocyte damage: once the cells of the liver gets infected and inflamed, it often results in damage of the cells thus, limiting the maximum functioning of the liver.
2. Necrosis: This is a type of ppremature cell death that happens whenever cells are damaged.
3. Cirrhosis: Here, the liver's functions are impaired thus, making the liver to be severely scarred.
4. Immune response: The immune system is structured in such a way that it always tries to fight off any alien substance or object it detects within the human system. Because of the invasion of the liver cells by the virus, the immune system will be triggered to fight it off which results in the liver being inflamed and causing further damage to the liver.
5. Fibrosis: this is the formation of scar tissues which is often caused as a result of chronic inflammation.

Source

What are the symptoms of acute and chronic Hepatitis B?

Common symptoms of acute Hepatitis B include:

• headache
• fever
• loss of appetite
• dark urine
• abdominal pain
• pale or clay coloured stool
• muscle and joint pain

Common symptoms of chronic Hepatitis B include:

• ascites (buildup if fluid in the abdomen caused as a result of impaired liver function)
• edema (swelling of legs, ankles and feet resulting from accumulation of fluid)
• varices (enlarged veins usually in the stomach and esophagus)
• hepatic encephalopathy (brain damage resulting from liver failure)

Source

What are the common ways Hepatitis B is transmitted?

The common was Hepatitis B is transmitted include:

1. Blood to blood contact through sharing of needles with and blood transfusion from an infected person.
2. Sexual contact: Having unprotected sex with an infected person.
3. Mother to child transmission: This occurs during childbirth. Mother's are often adviced not to give birth at homes but at certified hospitals to avert such lifetime errors.
4. Contaminated food and water: Though very rare but Hepatitis B can also be transmitted via contaminated foods and water.

Source

How can Hepatitis B be prevented?

Hepatitis B can be prevented through the following ways:

1. Vaccination
2. Practicing of safe sex through the use of condoms and avoiding multiple sexual partners
3. Avoid sharing needles
4. Always try to observe proper hygiene.

I'm inviting my friends @triple-e @deelyt and @ashley-p to also make their contributions on Hepatitis B and how it can be prevented.