Hepatitis B Infects

Hepatitis B is a disease that basically attacks the liver. Hepatitis B is a transmitted disease, meaning you can't get hepatitis B unless a persons bodily fluids has been transmitted from one person to another who isn't affected. You can get hepatitis B by also doing common things that doesn't seem like not a big deal, but leads to a big effect later on. For example, you can get hepatitis B by using another person's razor because if you cut yourself with it and they cut themselves with it as well it could lead to infection and easily into your body. Also by sharing dirty needles and being tattooed and that's's why it is very important to make sure everything is completely sanitized no matter what it is. Depending how badly it is you could cause

This can also increase the risk of liver cancer. Approximately 90-95% of adults will recover within six months and not contact HBV again.(2) However, blood tests will always show that the person was infected with HBV and blood banks will not accept their blood. About 5-10% of adults and 25-90% of children under the age of 5 that are infected with HBV are not able to get rid of the virus after 6 months. These people are considered to be chronically infected, commonly called Hepatitis B carriers. The carrier rate of Hepatitis B varies throughout the world, being uncommon amongst westerners, but reaching as high as 20% in people from Asia and Africa. With the immigration of foreigners into new countries, Hepatitis B is now becoming established in parts of countries where it previously was not.

So what is Hepatitis B and what causes it? This is a liver disease that is normally spread through person to person via contact with the following: blood, semen, body fluids from a person with the virus. Most commonly, this disease unfortunately is spread from the mother to her

One such deadly disease is Hepatitis B. Hepatitis B is a life threatening liver infection that is caused due to Hepatitis B virus. This virus leads to chronic infection and results in to high risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer. Hepatitis B has two types, which have different effect on adults. Acute Hepatitis B occurs for short time. People usually affected by acute virus, get well with the time. On the other hand, there is Chronic Hepatitis B, which causes long time infection and damages liver. This virus spreads through the blood and body fluids of an infected person.

The Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a species of the genus Orthohepadnavirus that is transmitted via blood and bodily fluids. It affects the liver by causing a wide range of diseases, “from acute hepatitis (including fulminant hepatic failure), to chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and potentially hepatocellular carcinoma” (Liang, 2009).

The difference in regards to how a Hepatitis B epidemic is dealt with depends on if it’s a developing country where this disease is currently prohibitively high and vaccines are readily available. For example, in United States, if a mother tests positive, the newborn is then vaccinated following delivery to prevent transmission. Additionally, this is a government requirement for children that are staring daycare or school

Hepatitis B Vaccine is a vaccine developed to prevent Hepatitis B Virus infection. Hepatitis B is a serious

Individuals with inactive hepatitis B surface antigen are referred to as chronic carriers. These individuals may not show clinical signs of the disease. They do not exhibit raised levels of AST and ALT, but they tend to have low viral loads (Zein & Edwards, 2009). Individuals with HBeAg positive or negative tend to exhibit higher viral loads and they are both contagious (Zein & Edwards, 2009). Individuals who are HBeAg negative do not have the antigen themselves, but are still able to spread the disease to others. Individuals who have resolved chronic hepatitis B are less likely to develop liver cancer or cirrhosis and their AST, ALT, and

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, the primary malignancy of the liver) is now the third most common cancer in the world affecting more than half a million people. The incidence of liver cancer varies greatly by race and ethnicity; and about 3 times more common in men than women [6]. The most common type of HCC - caused by Hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV and HCV) are most prevalent in Asia and Africa, as the presence of virus predisposes people to liver disease and subsequently HCC [7]. In such high prevalence areas of the world, HBV infection is often acquired at birth or in early childhood. In the US, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) account for more than 50% of people infected with HBV, although many of them are

Hepatitis is a disease caused by a virus that is characterized by liver inflammation. There are three common types of hepatitis – A, B, and C. “Over the past 15 years the incidences of hepatitis and b virus infection in the US have declined significantly. By contrast, the incidence of hepatitis C, formally stable or in decline, has increased 75% since 2010”. (Dan, 2015)

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a DNA virus that affects the liver and belongs to the Hepadnaviridae group (Takkenberg, Weegink, Zaaijer, & Reesink, 2010). According to an article in Vox Sanguines, an international journal of transfusion medicine, (Takkenberg, Weegink, Zaaijer, & Reesink, 2010) “about 400 million people worldwide are chronically infected with HBV, and 2 billion people have serological evidence of past or present HBV infection”. HBV, formerly known as serum hepatitis (Huether & McCance, 2008), has eight genotypes (A-H) with genotype D being associated with viral or acute hepatitis B and prevalent mainly in Europe, North Africa, and the United States

Acute hepatitis b is not life threating, although, according to Berkman and Bakalar, it’s a little unpleasant for a period of time due to the symptoms such as loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, fever, and weakness. Also the abdomen may develop some symptoms directly related to the liver. In the United States, majority of acute HBV infections occur in teenagers and young adults. The long-lasting time for acute hepatitis b is two to three months; however, some reaches up to four months which virus has entered into the chronic form. According to Wilkins, Chronic hepatitis b is the more critical form of hepatitis B virus that leads to complications such as, liver damage, liver failure, cirrhosis, liver cancer, and even death. Hepatitis B has many methods of spreading the virus, such as, through blood to blood contacts, unprotected sex, reused needles, and during childbirth. About 90 percent of infants are infected, 30 percent of children younger than five are infected, and 5 percent for the rest of the

Hepatitis B is the most common liver infection in the world. Worldwide, about 350 million people are chronic carriers of HBV (Hepatitis B Virus), among these carriers, more than 620,000 die from liver-related diseases each year. In the United States, hepatitis B mainly affects adults aged between 20-50 years. About 800,000 to 1.4 million Americans are chronic hepatitis B virus carriers, and the disease causes about 3,000 deaths each year. The good news is that infection with HBV is usually preventable because there is an effective vaccine. Use of the vaccine has resulted in an 82% decrease in the number of new infections reported in the United

The major risk factors for HAV infections are contaminated food and water, poor hygiene and sanitation, person-to-person contact (house-hold and sexual contact), and travelling to endemic countries. Blood exposure in HAV infections are rare. Persons at increased risk of infection are susceptible peopling living in and travelling to endemic areas, injection drug users, and people with chronic liver disease (Heymann,2015).

Most other areas including northern and western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the southern part of South America have low rates of infection (<2%). Chronic HBV carriers can spread the infection. Infection from carriers is low in North America and northern Europe (<0.5%), but is >10% in some areas of the Far East. 5,000 people in the US die from HBV each year and there are currently 1 million chronically infected people in the US. Worldwide 2 billion people have been infected, with 350 million chronically and 1.5 million die each year.