Monday, March 25, 2024

How Do I Get Hepatitis B

How To Help Stop The Spread Of Hepatitis B

How Do You Get Hepatitis B?

There are several things you can do to help stop the spread of this disease. Please follow these instructions until your doctor tells you the child with hepatitis is completely well:

  • Good hand washing by all family members must be done. Hands should be washed using soap and warm water before meals, after using the bathroom and before preparing or serving food.
  • Wash your hands after caring for your child. You may have come in contact with the hepatitis B virus from such things as changing diapers, cleaning up vomit, or exposure to blood.
  • Wear disposable gloves when handling blood . Wash your hands after removing the gloves.
  • Hepatitis B can be spread by sexual activity. Not having sex is the best way to keep Hepatitis B from being spread sexually. If an infected person has sex, a condom should be used every time. Condoms should be used until the doctor says there is no longer any risk of spreading the disease.
  • All family members who are not infected should get Hepatitis B vaccines .

Who Is Most Affected

In the United States, rates of new HBV infections are highest among adults aged 40-49 years, reflecting low hepatitis B vaccination coverage among adults at risk. The most common risk factor among people with new HBV infections is injecting drugs, related to the opioid crisis.

The highest rates of chronic hepatitis B infection in the United States occur among foreign-born individuals, especially people born in Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Africa. Approximately 70% of cases in the United States are among people who were born outside of the United States. CDC developed this map of the geographic distribution of hepatitis B around the world – PDF. Other groups who have higher rates of chronic HBV infection include people who inject drugs and men who have sex with men.

How Is Hepatitis B Spread

You can become infected with hepatitis B through exposure to blood, semen and other bodily fluids of an infected person. You can get the infection by:

  • Having unprotected sex.
  • Sharing or using dirty needles for drug use, tattoos or piercing.
  • Sharing everyday items that may contain body fluids, including razors, toothbrushes, jewelry for piercings and nail clippers.
  • Being treated medically by someone who does not use sterile instruments.
  • Being bitten by someone with the infection.
  • Being born to a pregnant woman with the infection.

Hepatitis B is not spread by:

  • Kissing on the cheek or lips.
  • Coughing or sneezing.
  • Hugging, shaking hands or holding hands.
  • Eating food that someone with the infection has prepared.
  • Breastfeeding.

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Treatment For Chronic Hbv Infection

For chronic HBV infection, antiviral medications are available.

This is not a cure for chronic HBV. However, it can stop the virus from replicating and prevent its progression into advanced liver disease.

A person with a chronic HBV infection can develop cirrhosis or liver cancer rapidly and without warning. If a person does not have access to adequate treatment or facilities, liver cancer can be fatal within months of diagnosis.

People with a chronic HBV infection require ongoing medical evaluation and an ultrasound of the liver

How Common Is Hepatitis B

What is Hepatitis B? â Icon Health Screening

The number of people who get this disease is down, the CDC says. Rates have dropped from an average of 200,000 per year in the 1980s to around 20,000 in 2016. People between the ages of 20 and 49 are most likely to get it.

About 90% of infants and 25-50% of children between the ages of 1-5 will become chronically infected. In adults, approximately 95% will recover completely and will not go on to have a chronic infection.

As many as 1.2 million people in the U.S. are carriers of the virus.

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Where Can I Get More Detailed Information On How To Live With Hepatitis B

More detailed information can be found in the Canadian Liver Foundations Healthy Living with Viral Hepatitis booklet, including:

  • What to expect if you have hepatitis B
  • The different types of blood tests and what they measure
  • How to prepare for an appointment with your doctor
  • What choices to make to prevent additional damage to your liver
  • Who needs to know if you have hepatitis B and how to tell them
  • How to recognize and deal with symptoms
  • How to find financial assistance
  • What questions to ask when considering alternative therapies.

What Should You Know About Pregnancy And Hepatitis B

A pregnant woman who has hepatitis B can pass the infection to her baby at delivery. This is true for both vaginal and cesarean deliveries.

You should ask your healthcare provider to test you for hepatitis B when you find out you are pregnant. However, while it is important for you and your healthcare provider to know if you do have hepatitis B, the condition should not affect the way that your pregnancy progresses.

If you do test positive, your provider may suggest that you contact another healthcare provider, a liver doctor, who is skilled in managing people with hepatitis B infections. You may have a high viral load and may need treatment during the last 3 months of your pregnancy. A viral load is the term for how much of the infection you have inside of you.

You can prevent your infant from getting hepatitis B infection by making sure that your baby gets the hepatitis B vaccine in the hours after they are born along with the hepatitis B immunoglobulin. These two shots are given in two different locations on the baby. They are the first shots needed.

Depending on the type of vaccine used, two or three more doses must be given, usually when the baby is 1 month old and then 6 months old, with the last by the time the baby is 1 year old. It is critical that all newborns get the hepatitis B vaccination, but even more important if you have hepatitis B yourself.

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How Does Hepatitis B Affect The Liver

When infected, the liver becomes inflamed, which may cause the healthy, soft tissues in the liver to harden and scar. If not stopped, inflammation and scarring can lead to serious liver diseases such as cirrhosis or liver cancer. If the damage is severe enough, the liver may not perform all of its functions normally.

Hepatitis B Causes And Risk Factors

What you need to know about Hepatitis B

Itâs caused by the hepatitis B virus, and it can spread from person to person in certain ways. You can spread the hepatitis B virus even if you donât feel sick.

The most common ways to get hepatitis B include:

  • Sex. You can get it if you have unprotected sex with someone who has it and your partnerâs blood, saliva, semen, or vaginal secretions enter your body.
  • Sharing needles. The virus spreads easily via needles and syringes contaminated with infected blood.
  • Accidental needle sticks.Health care workers and anyone else who comes in contact with human blood can get it this way.
  • Mother to child.Pregnant women with hepatitis B can pass it to their babies during childbirth. But thereâs a vaccine to prevent newborns from becoming infected.

Hepatitis B doesnât spread through kissing, food or water, shared utensils, coughing or sneezing, or through touch.

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What Is The Outlook For People With Hepatitis B

The outlook for people with HBV is better now than ever before. You are certainly able to live a full life and help yourself stay healthy. You should make sure to have regular check-ups with a healthcare provider who is qualified to treat hepatitis B, possibly a liver doctor.

Make sure you are vaccinated against hepatitis A. Check with your healthcare provider or pharmacist before taking other medications or over-the-counter products, including supplements and natural products. These could interfere with your medication or damage your liver. For instance, taking acetaminophen in large doses may harm your liver.

Follow the usual guidelines for living a healthy life:

  • Eat nutritious foods, choosing from a variety of vegetables, fruits and healthy proteins. It is said that cruciferous vegetables are especially good at protecting the liver.
  • Exercise regularly.
  • Dont smoke and dont drink. Both tobacco and alcohol are bad for your liver.
  • Do things that help you cope with stress, like journaling, talking with others, meditating and doing yoga.
  • Avoid inhaling toxic fumes.

What Is The Treatment For Hepatitis

Each type of hepatitis is treated differently.

Hepatitis A often goes away on its own and home treatment is all that is needed to help the liver recover, such as:

  • Rest
  • Avoiding alcohol
  • Avoiding certain medicines that can be harmful to the liver

Hepatitis B often goes away on its own in about 6 months, and can also be treated at home with the above remedies. Other treatments for hepatitis B include:

Treatment for hepatitis C is effective on certain forms of the hepatitis C virus. The choice of medications depends on the type of hepatitis C you have, whether you have been treated for the illness before, how much liver damage has occurred, any other underlying medical issues, and other medicines you take. Treatment for hepatitis C usually involves 8 to 12 weeks of oral antiviral medications, such as:

  • Elbasvir-grazoprevir
  • Sofosbuvir-velpatasvir-voxilaprevir

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Southern Cross Medical Library

The purpose of the Southern Cross Medical Library is to provide information of a general nature to help you better understand certain medical conditions. Always seek specific medical advice for treatment appropriate to you. This information is not intended to relate specifically to insurance or healthcare services provided by Southern Cross. For more articles go to the Medical Library index page.

How Can I Prevent Spreading Hepatitis B To Others

Hepatitis B

If you have hepatitis B, follow the steps above to avoid spreading the infection. Your sex partners should get a hepatitis B test and, if they arent infected, get the hepatitis B vaccine. You can protect others from getting infected by telling your doctor, dentist, and other health care professionals that you have hepatitis B. Dont donate blood or blood products, semen, organs, or tissue.

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How Do People Get The Hbv Virus

Hepatitis B virus is found in the blood of people with HBV infection. It enters the body through blood-to-blood contact.

Reliable blood tests for HBV were developed many years ago. Since blood donors and blood products are tested for HBV, this is no longer the typical means of infection.

In many parts of the world, hepatitis B virus infects more than 8% of the population. HBV-infected women pass the infection to their babies during the birth process. People can also get hepatitis B by sharing needles for injection drug use, through sexual contact with an infected person, by an accidental needlestick with a contaminated needle, or from improperly sterilized medical, acupuncture, piercing, or tattooing equipment.

Concurrent Administration Of Vaccines

HB-containing vaccines may be administered concomitantly with other vaccines or with HBIg. Different injection sites and separate needles and syringes must be used for concurrent parenteral injections.

Refer to Timing of Vaccine Administration in Part 1 for additional information about concurrent administration of vaccines.

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The Strawberries Were Sold In Stores Including Walmart And Trader Joe’s

The strawberries linked with the cases were sold between March 5 and April 25 at retailers including Aldi, HEB, Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts Farmers Market, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Weis Markets, and WinCo Foods.

The fresh strawberries would be out of date by now, the FDA said, but people who may have frozen them should throw them out instead of eating them.

From Person To Person

What is Hepatitis B? Signs, Symptoms, #Hepatitis Transmission and How to get #Tested

Blood and other bodily fluids, such as semen and vaginal secretions, contain the virus in infected people. The main ways in which people in the UK become infected include the following:

  • Having unprotected sex with an infected person. Even having oral sex can transmit hepatitis B.
  • From infected blood. You only need a tiny amount of infected blood to come into contact with a cut or wound on your body to allow the virus to enter your bloodstream, multiply and cause infection. For example:
  • Sharing needles and/or any injecting equipment to inject drugs. Even a tiny amount of blood left on a needle from an infected person is enough to cause spread to others.
  • Some people who had a blood transfusion or another blood product several years ago were infected with hepatitis B. Now, all blood donated in the UK is checked for the hepatitis B virus . So, the risk of getting hepatitis B from a blood transfusion in the UK is now very small.
  • From ‘needlestick’ accidents where the needle was used on an infected person.
  • There is a small risk of contracting the virus from sharing toothbrushes, razors and other such items which may be contaminated with blood. The virus can actually live outside the body for more than one week.
  • From using equipment which is not sterile for dental work, medical procedures, tattooing, body piercing, etc.
  • A bite from an infected person, or if their blood spills on to a wound on your skin, or on to your eyes or into your mouth.

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Fda Chief Ripped Over Baby Formula Crisis: You Cant Hide Behind Investigation

The US Food and Drug Administration is investigating a hepatitis A outbreak, with cases possibly linked to organic fresh strawberries.

The federal agency issued a statement Saturday warning about the multistate outbreak and announced the investigation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

So far, there have been no deaths, but there have been 17 cases and 12 hospitalizations spread between California, Minnesota and Canada, the FDA noted.

The infections in the United States and Canada are potentially linked to fresh organic strawberries branded as FreshKampo and HEB.

Do not eat, serve, or sell FreshKampo or HEB brand organic strawberries purchased between March 5, 2022, and April 25, 2022, the FDA said in a statement. People who purchased FreshKampo and HEB fresh organic strawberries between March 5, 2022, and April 25, 2022, and then froze those strawberries for later consumption should not eat them.

The FDA noted the strawberries in question were sold at retailers including Aldi, H-E-B, Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts Farmers Market, Trader Joes, Walmart, Weis Markets and WinCo Foods.

Investigators reported cases in California, Minnesota and Canada with illness onset dates between March 28 and April 30.

The FDA said to contact a health-care provider if showing symptoms of a hepatitis A infection.

What Are The Symptoms Of Chronic Hepatitis B

About 1 in 20 people who get hepatitis B as adults become carriers, which means they have a chronic hepatitis B infection. Carriers are more likely to pass hepatitis B to other people. Most carriers are contagious meaning they can spread hepatitis B for the rest of their lives.

Hepatitis B infections that last a long time may lead to serious liver diseases like cirrhosis and liver cancer. About 1 in 5 people with chronic hepatitis B die from it. There are medicines that can help treat chronic hepatitis B infections.

Most babies who get hepatitis B develop chronic infection, unless they get treated right away. But treatments almost always work if your baby gets them quickly. Thats why its important for pregnant people to get tested for hepatitis B.

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How Is Hepatitis B Transmitted

Hepatitis B is spread in several distinct ways: sexual contact sharing needles, syringes, or other drug-injection equipment or from mother-to-child at birth.

In the United States, in 2018, injection drug use was the most common risk factor reported among people with an acute HBV infection, followed by having multiple sex partners. Less commonly reported risk factors included accidental needle sticks, surgery, transfusions, and household contact with a person with HBV infection. In the United States, healthcare-related transmission of HBV is rare.

Mother-to-child transmission of HBV is especially concerning, because it is preventable. An estimated 25,000 infants are born to mothers diagnosed with HBV each year in the United States, and approximately 1,000 mothers transmit HBV to their infants. Without appropriate medical care and vaccinations, 90% of HBV-infected newborns will develop chronic infection, remaining infected throughout their lives. Up to 25% of people infected at birth will die prematurely of HBV-related causes. For this reason, the standard of care for pregnant women includes an HBV test during each pregnancy so that the appropriate steps can be taken to prevent HBV-positive mothers from transmitting the disease to her infant.

What Causes Hepatitis B

World Hepatitis Day 2020

The hepatitis B virus causes hepatitis B. The hepatitis B virus spreads through contact with an infected persons blood, semen, or other body fluids. Contact can occur by

  • being born to a mother with hepatitis B
  • having unprotected sex with an infected person
  • sharing drug needles or other drug materials with an infected person
  • getting an accidental stick with a needle that was used on an infected person
  • being tattooed or pierced with tools that were used on an infected person and werent properly sterilized, or cleaned in a way that destroys all viruses and other microbes
  • having contact with the blood or open sores of an infected person
  • using an infected persons razor, toothbrush, or nail clippers

You cant get hepatitis B from

  • being coughed on or sneezed on by an infected person
  • drinking unclean water or untreated water that has not been boiled
  • eating food that is unclean or has not been properly cooked
  • hugging an infected person
  • shaking hands or holding hands with an infected person
  • sharing spoons, forks, and other eating utensils
  • sitting next to an infected person

Mothers who have hepatitis B can safely breastfeed their babies. If a baby receives hepatitis B immune globulin and starts receiving the hepatitis B vaccine to prevent hepatitis B infection shortly after birth, hepatitis B is unlikely to spread from mother to child through breastfeeding.15

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