How to detect hepatitis early?
Early detection of hepatitis is entirely possible as long as you have a general knowledge of liver disease, are alert to hepatitis, and pay full attention to the following aspects
(1) If you have been in close contact with hepatitis patients, eaten half-cooked seafood, had blood transfusion, injected plasma, albumin, globulin, etc., or had unclean sexual contact, used syringes that are not strictly sterilized, received acupuncture, tattoo, tooth extraction and surgery within half to six months, there is a possibility of being infected with hepatitis.
(2) Recently, the general fatigue and weakness, do not want to eat, nausea, vomiting, aversion to grease, abdominal distension, pain in the liver area, irregular stools, urine like strong tea, etc., after resting the above symptoms still continue not to improve, and can not find other reasons, should be considered the possibility of hepatitis. If you can go to the hospital in time and find hepatomegaly, especially jaundice, you should be highly suspicious of the possibility of hepatitis.
(3) Those with a history of (1) exposure and (2) self-conscious signs and symptoms should have the necessary laboratory tests done quickly. If the sclera, skin or mucous membranes are already yellow, a urine trichothecene test should be performed immediately. If urine bilirubin is found to be positive (normal people have negative urine bilirubin) and serum transaminases are also found to be elevated, there is a greater possibility of hepatitis. For those with slow onset, mild symptoms, suspected non-jaundiced hepatitis, occult infection or subclinical hepatitis, periodic laboratory tests should be performed.
(4) Further antigen and antibody tests for hepatitis virus should be performed to clarify which type of hepatitis is present. Viral hepatitis A can be considered when the anti-HAVIgM is positive; hepatitis B can be considered when the high titer anti-HBcIgM is positive along with HBsAg positivity. The same diagnostic kits specific for hepatitis C, D, and E can also be used to help determine the corresponding hepatitis pathogen, respectively.
What are the causes of hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. There are many causes of liver inflammation, the common ones are
(1) Viral infection: caused by a variety of hepatitis viruses. It is highly contagious, complex transmission, widespread, and high incidence. At present, viral hepatitis is mainly divided into five types of hepatitis A, B, C, D and E. In recent years, hepatitis H and Hepatitis G have been found. Among them, hepatitis A and E are self-limiting and generally do not become chronic, but a few can develop into cirrhosis. Chronic hepatitis B is closely related to the occurrence of primary hepatocellular carcinoma.
(2) Drugs or chemical toxins: Many drugs and chemical toxins can cause liver damage and drug-related hepatitis or toxic hepatitis. Such as diphenhydramine, methyldopa, tetracycline, as well as arsenic-mercury and carbon tetrachloride. The degree of damage to the liver depends on the time of taking or exposure to the dose of the drug or chemical toxicant, as well as individual quality differences. Long-term use or repeated exposure to drugs and chemical poisons can lead to chronic hepatitis and even cirrhosis.
(3) Alcohol abuse: Alcohol can cause hepatitis. It is mainly due to the toxicity of alcohol (ethanol) and its metabolite acetaldehyde caused by direct damage to liver cells. According to research, if the daily intake of alcohol content of 150g or more, for more than 5 years, 90% of those who can occur a variety of liver damage; more than 10 years, about 34% of chronic hepatitis, about 25% of the development of liver cirrhosis. In Europe and America, there are more alcoholics, and alcoholic cirrhosis accounts for about 50%-90% of all cirrhosis. In China, the situation is better.
(4) Other: Many systemic infectious diseases can invade the liver, such as EBV and typhoid fever among bacterial infectious diseases, which can cause elevation of serum transaminases or other liver function abnormalities. However, because these diseases have their own specific manifestations, and liver inflammation is only a part of the disease, the diagnosis is not difficult and is rarely misdiagnosed as “hepatitis”.
In conclusion, hepatitis is a name that includes many different causes of hepatitis. However, since viral hepatitis is the most common and familiar in daily life, it is customary to refer to viral hepatitis as “hepatitis”.
What are the most common causes of chronic hepatitis?
Chronic hepatitis is a clinical condition in which the acute phase of hepatitis has passed and the inflammation of the liver has persisted for more than 6 months. Chronic hepatitis is most often the result of acute viral hepatitis and autoimmune disorders of the body. Long-term application of liver-damaging drugs and allergies to drugs, alcoholism, as well as the lack of certain enzymes and metabolic disorders can lead to the development of the disease.
Acute infection with different hepatitis viruses obviously has different possibilities of transformation into chronic hepatitis. In acute hepatitis A and E virus infections, the disease is self-limiting after the acute phase and the prognosis is good, no persistent carriage of the virus occurs, and no transformation into chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis; about 15% of acute hepatitis B is transformed into chronic hepatitis, about 20% develops into cirrhosis, and about 0.6% develops liver cancer; hepatitis C also evolves more often into chronic hepatitis, and according to the literature, about 36% (26% -55%) of hepatitis C is transformed into chronic. -55%) become chronic.
Chronic hepatitis B caused by hepatitis B virus accounts for 80-90% of chronic hepatitis of various etiologies, therefore, hepatitis B virus infection is the most common cause of chronic hepatitis.
What should I do if I am found to be positive for hepatitis B triple system?
The first positive hepatitis B surface antigen test should be repeated 1-2 weeks later, along with serum transaminases and hepatitis B triplet. If available, HBVDNA can also be tested. If the aminotransferase is significantly elevated, the patient should be hospitalized. If there is no increase in aminotransferases but other indicators are increased or positive to varying degrees, you should ask your doctor to make a preliminary assessment of your regression and infectiousness. If necessary, a liver biopsy should be done in cooperation with the doctor to find out whether there are pathological changes in the liver, and those with positive pathological findings should be treated as hepatitis B.
Those who are found to be double positive for surface antigen and e antigen should be rechecked once every 3 months. Those with pure hepatitis B surface antigen positivity, without e antigen positivity and without symptoms, can be re-examined once every 6 months to a year. This is because the chance of transformation to hepatitis is several times higher in those who are surface antigen positive than in the general population.
Women who are double positive for hepatitis B surface antigen and e antigen should pay special attention to menstrual hygiene, strictly prevent menstrual blood, contaminated hands and daily necessities, avoid touching other people’s open wounds with their hands, inappropriate nursery and catering industry personnel; those who are pregnant and must require childbirth should ask their doctors to check liver function and hepatitis B markers regularly. Their newborns should preferably be vaccinated with hepatitis B high-valent immunoglobulin and hepatitis B vaccine to protect the next generation.
The eating utensils, dental tools, facial scrapers, syringes, puncture needles and acupuncture needles of hepatitis B surface antigen-positive people should be separated from others. It is important to prevent saliva, blood and other secretions from contaminating the environment and infecting others.
Those who are purely positive for hepatitis B surface antigen or also positive for e antibody can work, study, work, and attend daycare normally and undergo regular medical observation, but cannot undertake blood donation.
What are the modes of transmission of hepatitis B during pregnancy and what to pay attention to
Hepatitis B during pregnancy is closely related to the life and health of the mother and child. Hepatitis B during pregnancy can occur directly due to defects in sterilization of medical equipment in gynecology, dentistry and surgery, and great attention should be paid to the prevention of this disease.
(1) Hepatitis B virus is resistant to physicochemical factors and must be disinfected by high pressure steam (120°C/30 minutes) or dry hot air (180°C/60 minutes) or boiling (more than 30 minutes). Mechanical decontamination and treatment of blood and other contaminants with decontaminants must be performed before disinfection.
(2) Transmission of hepatitis B virus during obstetrics, surgery, drug injection, intravenous blood collection, and palpation can cause medically-derived pregnancy infection. Sexual intercourse and delivery can cause non-intestinal infection with hepatitis B virus. Pay particular attention to hepatitis B virus transmission during blood transfusion and blood donors should be checked for serum hepatitis B markers.