Dear Editor:
Did you know May is World Hepatitis Awareness Month? Hepatitis can be fatal, yet it’s overlooked and misunderstood by many. Viral Hepatitis A, B, and C are distinct in that they all affect the liver. Diagnosed only by blood testing, symptoms for all three consist of feeling tired, feeling sick to your stomach or vomiting, unexplained weight loss, pain on the right side of your belly where your liver is, fever, sore muscles and joints, no appetite, headache, skin rash, yellowish eyes and skin, diarrhea and constipation.
HepA is a liver infection caused by a virus and in most cases resolves itself. Symptoms are milder than B and C, and it doesn’t lead to long term liver damage. It’s spread when a person eats food or drinks water that has come in contact with stool. Think employees who don’t wash their hands. You can protect yourself by getting a vaccination which is usually 100 percent effective.
HepB is also a virus that infects the liver. You can have HepB and not know it. You can be symptom free and still spread it by sharing personal hygiene items, getting a tattoo or piercing with unclean tools, sharing needles with an infected person, or having sex without the use of a condom. The best prevention is the HepB vaccination. When undiagnosed or untreated, a person will eventually need a liver transplant, or die from liver failure from chronic HepB.
Nearly 3.2 million Americans and 170 million people across the world have chronic Hepatitis C. Hepatitis C, the leading cause of liver transplants, kills approximately 12,000 U.S. patients each year. This infection can lay dormant for years before producing any symptoms, 65-70 percent of people who are infected are unaware they have it. Those who develop chronic HepC still don’t show symptoms. This makes it common for people to have it 15 years or more before it’s diagnosed. At this point liver damage is already done. Most US infections are genotype 1, the toughest strain to treat. This genotype has a cure rate of less than 40 percent with the best current treatments available. Two new drugs are set to hit the market and are believed to boost the cure rates to 75 percent and are part of a therapy that includes antivirals.
HepC is spread by contact with the blood of an infected person, sharing needles or other equipment, having a blood transfusion or organ transplant before 1992, getting shot with a needle that has infected blood on it, getting tattoos or piercings with unclean tools, you are a health care worker or emergency responder. Experts are unsure if you can get HepC from sexual contact. There isn’t a vaccination for Hepatitis C. The best prevention is to be tested, be informed, have safe sex, and by not sharing anything that may have blood on it.
Without treatment or diagnosis a person will face eventual liver failure and death. Know your ABC’s, get tested, and help spread Hepatitis awareness.
Onward Christian Soldiers,
Elisa Bertocci