Hepatitis A, B, C, ... D? E?!
There is no end to the nasty virus inflicted illnesses it seems. I’ve already talked about cervical cancer, HIV and even herpes but there is still more!
Hepatitis can have several causes as the name only refers to the inflammation of the liver. There can be toxic (alcohol, medication), bacterial (salmonella) or viral reasons for hepatitis. For the sake of not writing a too extensive post, I will focus only on the viral hepatitis versions.
For a virus to be dangerous, it needs to be fully functioning, correct? Wrong. The pure RNA (genetic information) of the hepatitis A virus is enough to infect you. How? Through bad hygiene (not washing your hands) and food (usually raw).
Luckily, it’s harmless in about 99% of all cases. The other 1% are kind of fucked as the infection can lead to massive organ failure. But that’s only likely for older patients, patients with other bad infections or patients with a compromised immune system.
Hepatitis B is probably better known than A because it counts as an STD. Truth is, it can be transmitted during sex but also during birth, via blood and even saliva and breast milk! The worst thing? Many infected people don’t even notice they have it because the infection isn’t obvious. That way, it’s easy to infect a sexual partner.
1 million deaths each year are caused by hepatitis B and 5-7% of the worlds population is a chronic carrier of the virus. Just like the virus that causes cervical cancer it switches off the p53 gene that’s supposed to keep the cell from turning cancerous. @suesa
What’s interesting is that the hepatitis B virus can be regarded as “virus.zip”. Its genetic information is only partly DNA, the rest is RNA which is only translated into DNA when the virus has entered the cell already.
This one gets only a really short paragraph as there is not much to say about it. Hepatitis Delta piggybacks the hepatitis B virus, without it the Delta virus can’t successfully infect the patient. It makes everything worse though. But if you’re vaccinated against hepatitis B, you’re save from this one too!
Ever got a tattoo? A piercing? Acupuncture? Or do you plan to? You better hope whoever gave you that made sure their tools are sterile because those are ways you could contract hepatitis C. It’s not entirely clear how hepatitis C is transmitted but it’s clear that it can be “handed down” from parent to child and that infected needles are a huge problem. And if a hepatitis A infection is added to the pile, things become deadly.
The last hepatitis virus is particularly nasty as it has a high lethality for pregnant women, 20-30% die if they contract the hepatitis E virus in their last trimester. The virus can be contracted through food and, again, from people who carry it and don’t properly wash their hands.
Additionally to damaging the liver, hepatitis E also causes nausea, abdominal pain, aching joints, and itchiness.
So what are the consequences? What do I want you to learn from this post?
Practice safe sex, of course. Especially with partners you don’t know well enough to be certain they’re clean. But also, for god’s sake, wash your hands on a regular basis! Be careful when eating raw food, especially raw meat! And yes, smoked meat is still dangerous.
Your liver is supposed to keep your body clean, protect it. A new one is tricky to acquire.
Sources:
Lecture “Hepatitis” by Professor Friedrich Grässer
Picture taken from pixabay.com, sketches by me
Note: The "tumor" is here displayed on an arm. That's obviously false for liver cancer, it was just drawn this way for better visualization.
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I was once diagnosed with hepatitis. I don't remember the type though. I find this post to be very interesting and helpful. I wish I had it earlier. None the less it is always better to prepare for future attacks.
very informational topic as usual you shared.I have been suffering from Hepatitis-C 14 years back.It was the worst time of my life,got 6 months therapy(72) injections and about 540 capsules were used.i was advised to keep relaxed and take no any tension during treatment and that's something impossible in my part of the world where there is no safe drinking water available,hair saloons is another cause of spreading this disease. anyway, I recovered and now I actively participate in my life activities even sports events.thanks @suesa for sharing such kind of issues.
Whenever I hear about hepatitis, it reminds me how I lost my energetic cousin. His condition was wrongly diagnosed as yellow fever and that was being treated. He was not responding to treatment, he was rushed off to another hospital where the correct diagnosis was made, but by then it was already too late. It was the chronic hepatitis B and his liver had failed. The hospital where he was, lacked the necessary equipment for a liver failure treatment and before he could be taken to the one with one that had, he died en route. The dad was furious and wanted to sue the first hospital. It was a terrible experience. I had been vaccinated against type A and B. Good, you brought the awareness here. Thanks.
Condolences for your loss Brother.
I too lost a friend to liver complication.
However, he drunk way too much.
So it is hard to realize he could have not met such a fate.
I would often dream of him and still do periodically.
There is no doubt a significance in that.
Also of significance, is you sharing your thoughts of your cousin.
It dignifies their existence and honors their essence.
May they be at peace and find grounding in our conscious.
Thanks, it was one of those time that the obvious was overlooked with a disastrous consequence.
Thanks a lot for this very interesting read, I really enjoyed it! I’d just like to add that a lot of research is currently being done in the field of chronic liver diseases, and especially hepatitis. New drugs are in development and have shown very promising results, even for the seemingly untouchable hepatitis D virus. If you’re interested, He et al (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25902143) recently published a very interesting paper which proposes a new drugable target (the entry receptor). These are just my two cents.. Have a nice day!
Thanks!
First off... I didn't know there are so many different types of Hepatitis. I confess to only knowing of Hepatitis B though I didn't have all that information. Everything can cause cancer is all I can gather. Your posts have been awakening the need to take better care of my health.
Thank you for the science lesson as usual :)
... And those are only the viral causes!
Are we even safe any more? Damn.
Everyone here can benefit from this message...
This is no critique on your article. Rather, I'd like to share with you a little known fact: the hepatitis C virus has never been isolated. This is important in the scholarly world of disease because the scientific community considers it absolutely essential that a virus has been isolated before the community jumps to the conclusion that it is a virus or something that can be "spread".
...and we all know that fact won't stop the pharmaceutical industry from churning a profit. Cause that's all any corporation can survive on. (And I am not demonizing profit--I'm an executive.)
Therefore, it is wrong to even suggest that you can "contract" hepatitis C. I learned a lot about this through my mother, who suffered from "hepatitis C", dug deep and never accepted that there was no cure, and eventually she realized it was all bullshit. She has been hepatitis C free ever since she stopped trying to cure a pharmaceutical pipe dream fantasy. In fact, she had always been hepatitis C free :)
Two days ago, I just received a patient with hepatitis B where I work.the patient's body is very yellow in color. with a very weak condition the patient is pushed into the ward.which makes me confused is the family who accompany the patient,
whether they do not know about hepatitis B disease or they understand about the disease but because their family can not do something.
Thanks u @suesa :)
That’s a beautiful liver you’ve drawn.
Thank you, I'm very proud of it 😂
That's a heap of great information about nasty hepatitis!
I didn't know about all types, but your sketching skills girl, A-Ma-Zin :D
haha no seriously, loved them !
It gets the point across :P