Hepatitis A, B, And C: Do You Know The Difference?
Your liver is one of the most important organs in your body, doing vital work such as filtering your blood and fighting off infections. Hepatitis disrupts the liver’s ability to do its job, and can cause a number of unpleasant side effects, and even lead to death.
Not every case of hepatitis is the same, as there are three common types: A, B, and C. The symptoms of each type may be similar, but there are some important differences between the types.
What Is Hepatitis?
Viral hepatitis is a condition that causes your liver to become inflamed, and in turn not be able to function to the best of its ability. When you contract hepatitis through a virus, it travels through your body and makes its way to the liver. It enters liver cells and begins to rapidly make copies of itself.
This causes damage to your liver cells, prompting your immune system to deliver immune cells to travel to the area. As immune cells fight the virus cells, the liver becomes even more inflamed and sustains damage, which can make it more and more difficult for it to properly do its job.
The liver has a list of important tasks it carries out in the body, including filtering drugs, toxins, and other bad things out of the blood. The liver is also responsible for the production of bile, which aids the body in breaking down and digesting food. The liver even has a part in helping your blood clot by producing blood proteins. Finally, the liver stores extra glucose for later, and has a part in fighting off infections.
What Are The Symptoms Of Viral Hepatitis?
While the three types of hepatitis are different, they all share very similar symptoms. These symptoms include:
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is a type of viral hepatitis usually caused by the Hepatitis A virus (HAV). This type of hepatitis is currently relatively rare in the United States, with only 24,000 Hepatitis A infections in the US in 2018,?according to Healthline.?This type of Hepatitis is seen much more often in other areas of the world, like Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe.
In order to contract HAV, you need to have direct contact with the stool or blood of an infected person. It’s generally transmitted through oral-fecal contact. Common ways of contracting it are taking care of someone sick with the virus, having sex with an infected person, or consuming contaminated food or drink.
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Unlike Hepatitis B and C, however, Hepatitis A has an incubation time of just 15 to 50 days, making it a short-term illness. Hepatitis A is also usually survivable, and once you’ve had it once you can’t get it again.
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV), and is contracted by coming into contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. You can also get the disease by being born to a mother with Hepatitis B, having sex with an infected person, using needles used by infected people, or sharing personal items that come into contact with bodily fluids often.
The incubation period for Hepatitis B is about 60 to 150 days, with an average of 90 days. Not everyone who gets Hepatitis B will experience symptoms, and about 95 % of people with Hepatitis B will completely recover. Even though the outlook is mostly good, sometimes Hepatitis B can become chronic.
Many people with chronic Hepatitis B were exposed to the virus as children, and won’t know they have it until they’ve suffered significant liver damage. Hepatitis B can also reactivate in people who had it previously, which can result in symptoms and liver damage.
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is caused by the Hepatitis C virus (HCV), and is transmitted through blood and bodily fluids that contain blood. This can happen if you use needles someone infected used, have sex with an infected person, share personal items that come into contact with bodily fluids, or are born to a mother with the disease.
Another way you can get infected with HCV is by receiving a blood transfusion or organ donation before the 1990’s. The incubation period for Hepatitis C is about 14 to 84 days, but can last as long as 182 days. Some people only experience an acute illness, and afterwards the virus is cleared from the body. For about half of people with Hepatitis C, however, the disease becomes chronic.
Chronic Hepatitis C can develop into cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer, and your chances of this happening are increased if you’re male, drink alcohol, already have liver disease, or are taking immunosuppressive medication. While the disease clears up for about 90% of people, it can reactivate at a later date.
Article Link - Hepatitis A, B, And C: Do You Know The Difference?
Author - Staff Writer
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2 年Well Said.