How Long Does It Take For Hepatitis To Show Up

How Can I Prevent Spreading Hepatitis B To Others

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.

When To Seek Medical Advice

See your GP if you persistently have any of the later symptoms listed, or if they keep returning. They may recommend having a blood test that can check for hepatitis C.

Read more about diagnosing hepatitis C

None of these symptoms mean you definitely have hepatitis C, but it’s important to get them checked out.

You should also speak to your GP about getting tested if there’s a risk you’re infected, even if you don’t have any symptoms. This particularly includes people who inject drugs or have done so in the past.

Read about the causes of hepatitis C for more information about who’s at risk of having the infection.

Page last reviewed: 27 October 2021 Next review due: 27 October 2024

How To Avoid Hepatitis B

• never share any drug-injecting equipment with other people
• dont get tattoos or piercings from unlicensed places
• dont share razors, toothbrushes or towels that might be contaminated with blood or other bodily fluids
• use a condom, especially with a new partner, for anal and oral sex. You can order male and female condoms here.
• hepatitis B vaccine is available from the NHS, and is recommended for people who are at risk of infection. This includes people who inject drugs, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and people whose partners or close family have the virus.

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How Long Do Hepatitis B Test Results Take

Fettle is committed to delivering your results within 72 hours of receiving your samples.

If your result is reactive, a Fettle clinician will call you to discuss your diagnosis, treatment options and help you find your nearest clinic.

If your result is negative, well let you know by text message as soon as your results are available.

We deliver resultswithin72 hours

Addressing Hepatitis For The First Time

It is crucial that a treatment counselor or health professional use a nonjudgmental and compassionate tone. Clients need to feel comfortable disclosing information about their health and risky behaviors. The following strategies can help initiate the conversation:

• Display posters, literature, or other -related items that could help prompt the client to ask questions about hepatitis. .
• Assess clients ability to discuss , based on their degree of openness in the counseling session, the amount of detail they provide in their responses, and the length of the therapeutic relationship.
• Raise the subject in a way that avoids making clients feel defensive or afraid. Consider introducing the subject by making parallels with other conditions that have been discussed. Say, for example, You said you were tested for HIV several times. Were you ever tested for viral ? or You mentioned that your friend is sick with HIV. Have you been tested for HCV or HIV? Tell me about those tests.
• Be patient and allow time for multiple, short conversations about the subject. This might ease feelings of fear, anxiety, or shame.

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How Do You Get Hepatitis B

The virus that causes hepatitis B lives in blood, semen, and other fluids in your body. You usually get it by having sex with someone who’s infected.

You also can get it if you:

• Have direct contact with infected blood or the body fluids of someone who’s got the disease, for instance by using the same razor or toothbrush as someone who has hepatitis B, or touching the open sores of somebody who’s infected.
• If you’re pregnant and you’ve got hepatitis B, you could give the disease to your unborn child. If you deliver a baby who’s got it, they need to get treatment in the first 12 hours after birth.

How Soon Can You Be Tested

Every STD has its own incubation period. For some STDs, the body begins to produce antibodies and symptoms in as little as a few days. For others, it can take weeks or months for symptoms to appear. Here are the ranges of for some of the most common STDs.

While retesting is recommended for bacterial STDs, some STDs are lifelong viral infections. In the case of a lifelong viral infection, a blood test will always detect the STD, even after treatment has been successful. Therefore, retesting would only be necessary if you wanted to reconfirm an original diagnosis.

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Identifying Patterns Of Risky Behavior

Screening is an opportunity to draw attention to the clients behaviors that put him or her at risk for contracting :

• Ask for the clients perception of his or her risk for having contracted : How likely do you think it is that the test will be positive?
• Listen for and identify behaviors that put the client at risk for contracting , B, and C and HIV, especially unprotected sex and sharing injection drug paraphernalia.
• Assess the clients alcohol consumption.

How Is Alcoholic Hepatitis Treated

The goal of treatment is to restore some or all normal functioning to the liver.

You will need to stop drinking alcohol. To do thi, you may need to be in an alcohol treatment program. Sometimes you may also need to change your diet. Scarring of the liver is permanent. But the liver is often able to repair some of the damage caused by alcohol so you can live a normal life.

You may be admitted to the hospital or treated on an outpatient basis. There is no medicine to cure alcoholic hepatitis. Treatment involves easing the symptoms and keeping the disease from getting worse.

Be sure to ask your healthcare provider about recommended vaccines. These include vaccines for viruses that can cause liver disease.

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Eating Diet And Nutrition For Hepatitis B

If you have hepatitis B, you should eat a balanced, healthy diet. Obesity can increase the chance of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease , and NAFLD can increase liver damage in people who have hepatitis B. Talk with your doctor about healthy eating and maintaining a healthy weight.

You should also avoid alcohol because it can cause more liver damage.

How Is The Virus Spread

Hepatitis A virus is usually spread from person to person by putting something in the mouth that has been contaminated with the stool of a person with hepatitis A. This type of transmission is called the “fecal-oral” route. For this reason, the virus is more easily spread in areas where there are poor sanitary conditions or where good personal hygiene is not observed.

Most infections in the United States result from contact with a household member or sex partner who has hepatitis A.Hepatitis A virus may also be spread by consuming food or drink that has been handled by an infected person. Waterborne outbreaks are infrequent and are usually associated with sewage-contaminated or inadequately treated water. Casual contact, as in the office, factory or school setting, does not spread the virus.

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Hepatitis A Vaccine And Travel

If youâre going to a country where hepatitis A is common and youâve never had the virus or the vaccine, start the vaccination process as soon as you can. It takes 2 to 4 weeks after the first dose for the vaccine to work, but even one shot a few days before you leave will give you some protection.

People who are allergic to something in the vaccine and children younger than 6 months might instead get a shot of immune globulin , which will protect against hepatitis A for up to 2 months.

How To Prevent An Infection

You contract hepatitis C when you come into contact with the blood of a person who has a hepatitis C infection.

The process of screening blood in the United States keeps it from being transmitted during transfusions and organ transplants.

Hepatitis C can be transmitted from mother to baby during childbirth. It can be transmitted from a needle stick in a medical setting too.

Its not common, but hepatitis C can also be transmitted when you share personal items or during sexual contact with a person who has the infection.

Here are some ways to lower your risk of hepatitis infection:

• Do not share needles, syringes, or other injection equipment.
• Do not share razors, toothbrushes, or other personal care items.
• When getting a tattoo or body piercing, use only licensed facilities that prioritize and implement infection-control practices.
• Be very careful when cleaning up blood spills and be sure to wear gloves. The hepatitis C virus can live up to 6 weeks on surfaces.

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Why Isn’t Hepatitis A Vaccine Required For Food Service Workers

While food service employers can offer hepatitis A vaccine to their employees if they wish, most public health authorities prefer not to make it mandatory for the following reasons:

• There is no evidence that food service workers are at any greater risk of acquiring hepatitis A than are people in other occupations.
• Only 2-3 percent of all hepatitis A cases are acquired through restaurant food.
• Employee turnover in some segments of the food service industry is high, making it impractical to vaccinate staff.
• Emphasis on careful hand washing, use of disposable gloves and not working when ill are measures that can greatly minimize the risk of spreading hepatitis A and a number of other infections.
• Hepatitis A vaccine would be strongly recommended for food service workers in a county or region where a community-wide outbreak has been recognized.

What Is Autoimmune Hepatitis

The liver is a large organ that sits up under your ribs on the right side of your belly . It helps filter waste from your body, makes bile to help digest food, and stores sugar that your body uses for energy. Autoimmune hepatitis occurs when your bodys infection-fighting system attacks your liver cells. This causes swelling, inflammation and liver damage.

It is a long-term or chronic inflammatory liver disease.

Autoimmune hepatitis:

• May occur at any age
• Affects women more than men
• Is often linked to other diseases where the body attacks itself

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Key Points About Alcoholic Hepatitis

• Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver that leads to liver cell damage and cell death.
• Alcoholic hepatitis is caused by drinking too much alcohol. The liver breaks down alcohol and if, over time, you drink more alcohol than the liver can process, it can become seriously damaged.
• Alcoholic hepatitis usually develops over time with continued drinking. Severe alcoholic hepatitis can develop suddenly and quickly lead to liver failure and death.
• You must completely stop drinking alcohol and may need an alcohol treatment program. Sometimes diet changes are recommended, too. Treatment involves reducing the symptoms and halting the progression of the disease.

What Are The Symptoms

During the early stages of infection there may not be any symptoms. If symptoms do develop, this is usually within the first six months after infection. Those who do get symptoms may experience:

• flu-like symptoms, such as high temperature, muscle aches and loss of appetite, feeling tired all the time
• yellowing of the eyes and skin
• abdominal pain
• loss of appetite and weight loss
• sickness and diarrhoea.

Some people clear the virus after this initial stage. However, some people do not clear the virus without treatment and so they will develop a long term infection called chronic hepatitis. This can cause damage to the liver and can lead to liver cancer.

It can take up to 12 weeks for hepatitis B to show up in tests

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When To Contact A Doctor

Anyone who suspects that they have come into contact with HBV should consult a doctor as soon as possible.

A doctor can provide postexposure prophylaxis through the vaccines and a drug called hepatitis B immune globulin. PEP can prevent infection and liver damage.

A person should also contact a doctor if they notice any of the symptoms of hepatitis B or if they know they have hepatitis B, and their symptoms worsen.

Hepatitis B is a viral infection that impacts the liver.

What Is Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A, also called hep A, is a contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus. Some people have only a mild illness that lasts a few weeks. Others have more severe problems that can last months. You usually get the disease when you eat or drink something contaminated by poop from a person who has the virus.

The hepatitis A virus usually isnât dangerous. Almost everyone who has it gets better. But because it can take a while to go away, youâll need to take care of yourself in the meantime.

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What Causes Hepatitis B

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

The Sh: 24 Sti Test Kit

The test for Hepatitis B is a blood sample.

You canwatch the blood test instruction videoand follow this link to see theinstruction leafletthat comes in the kit.Hepatitis B may take twelve weeks to show up in a test from the time of infection. If you are in any doubt about window periods, you should do a test now, and another test at a later date.

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Who Should Get Tested

You should consider getting tested for hepatitis C if you’re worried you could have been infected or you fall into one of the groups at an increased risk of being infected.

Hepatitis C often has no symptoms, so you may still be infected if you feel healthy.

Some groups of people are at an increased risk of hepatitis C, including:

• ex-drug users and current drug users, particularly users of injected drugs
• people who received blood transfusions before September 1991 or blood products before 1986 in the UK
• UK recipients of organ or tissue transplants before 1992
• people who have lived or had medical treatment in an area where hepatitis C is common high-risk areas include Africa, the Middle East and central Asia
• babies and children whose mothers have hepatitis C
• anyone accidentally exposed to the virus, such as health workers
• people who have received a tattoo or piercing where equipment may not have been properly sterilised
• sexual partners, family members and close contacts of people with hepatitis C

If you continue to engage in high-risk activities, such as injecting drugs frequently, regular testing may be recommended. Your doctor will be able to advise you about this.

Should You Get Tested For Hepatitis C

Since you can live with hep C for decades without knowing itit can take 10 to 40 years for hep C to progress from mild disease to cirrhosis, liver failure or liver cancerthe Centers For Disease Control and Prevention recommends a one-time blood screening test for anyone born between 1945 and 1965. This population is more at risk of having received a tainted blood transfusion.

Hepatitis C can only be diagnosed through a simple blood test called an HCV antibody test. True to its name, it looks for antibodies, proteins released into the bloodstream, that show up in someone infected with the hep C virus. If you have a positive HCV antibody test, youll then be given a follow-up HCV RNA test to learn whether you have an active infection.

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Getting Tested For Hepatitis C

A blood test, called an HCV antibody test, is used to find out if someone has ever been infected with the hepatitis C virus. The HCV antibody test, sometimes called the anti-HCV test, looks for antibodies to the hepatitis C virus in blood. Antibodies are chemicals released into the bloodstream when someone gets infected.

Test results can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to come back. Rapid anti-HCV tests are available in some health clinics and the results of these tests are available in 20 to 30 minutes.