Hepatitis B is a serious viral infection that can lead to chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure. It is transmitted through blood, bodily fluids, and from mother to newborn. Symptoms include fever, nausea, and jaundice. Vaccination is recommended, and blood donors are screened to prevent spread. Safe sex practices and proper disposal of needles should be observed.
The word hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Serum hepatitis is an infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). It is often called hepatitis B infection or simply hepatitis B. Hepatitis B or serum hepatitis is a serious viral infection that can lead to many complications, such as chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure.
Serum hepatitis is transmitted to other people through transfusion of HBV-positive blood, sexual contact, through a contaminated needle. Mothers infected with hepatitis B can also pass the virus to their newborns during delivery. The virus is generally found in blood and bodily fluids, including semen, breast milk, tears, and saliva, although kissing and casual contact with a person who has the virus does not cause infection.
Hepatitis B can present in two ways, as acute hepatitis B or chronic hepatitis B. Acute hepatitis B is the first infection with the virus. Most infected individuals recover completely from this infection, making them noninfectious to other people after they recover. Some cases of serum hepatitis, however, do not resolve. When an infected person’s blood continues to test positive for the virus for six months or more, they are said to have chronic hepatitis B and are still capable of passing the disease to other people as long as it remains positive.
After infection, the virus can stay inside the body to incubate, which usually takes one to six months. Symptoms of the infection usually appear within four months of being infected. Infected people may or may not experience symptoms of serum hepatitis. When symptoms do occur, they often include fever, nausea and stomach pain, weakness, joint pain, poor appetite, and jaundice or yellowing of the skin and eyes.
Most health experts support vaccination against the hepatitis B virus. The vaccine is effective and safe and is given in three separate doses or injections. Children and adolescents, as well as people who are at increased risk of contracting the virus, should be vaccinated. Those at increased risk include healthcare workers who are frequently exposed to blood products, hemodialysis patients, people staying in nursing homes, injecting drug users, and people who have multiple sexual partners.
In order to prevent the spread of serum hepatitis, blood donors are also screened before being accepted to donate blood. Proper disposal of needles after use, frequent hand washing, and care when handling patients with serum hepatitis should also be practiced to avoid infection. Observing safe sex practices and using separate razors and toothbrushes are other ways to avoid HBV infection.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
