So which is which?
Hepatitis A (HAV)
Globally, hepatitis A accounts for 1.4 million cases a year and is one of the most common foodborne infections. HAV can be resistant to food processes that routinely control pathogens. It is a viral inflammation of the liver that doesn’t cause chronic liver disease in most of those exposed.
In poor, developing countries, infection rates of 90 percent for children before the age of ten are common. Older children and adults have built immunity to this virus so disease rates are low and outbreaks are rare.
In developed countries with good sanitation practices, infection rates are low. But infections still spread through high-risk groups such as men who have sex with men, IV drug users, or isolated populations such as closed religious communities.
Other means of transmission are exposure to the stool of an infected person, eating contaminated fruits, vegetables and other foods, eating raw shellfish or swallowing contaminated ice.
You can have hepatitis A and be infectious for two weeks before any symptoms show and for a week after they appear. If you do have symptoms, many do not, they may include loss of appetite, diarrhea, jaundice, fever, fatigue and pain in the belly.
There is no treatment or cure for HAV, but there is a vaccine that is highly effective if you get it within two weeks of exposure. Only about 10 to 15 percent of HAV patients will have symptoms that last a long time, and rarely this damage to the liver may lead to liver failure and possibly a transplant.
Hepatitis B (HBV)
Approximately 780,000 people lose their lives each year in the U.S. to hepatitis B infections; there are also an estimated 650,000 of deaths from cirrhosis and 130,000 deaths from acute infections. Acute HBV affects adults for a short period of time and, in general, they recover within a year.
About 90 percent of healthy adults will recover naturally in the first year. Chronic HBV is a long-term infection of the liver. Globally, 240 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B.
HBV is spread through contact with blood or bodily fluids of the infected person. The virus for hepatitis B can live outside of the body for seven days -- so good hygiene is essential. There is a high risk of death from cirrhosis or liver cancer.
The good news is there is hope with HBV. There is a vaccine available that is 95 percent effective against the condition. It is generally a three-shot series given to high-risk groups like people exposed to blood products( i.e. health workers), those who frequently require blood products, dialysis patients, people interned in prisons, organ transplant recipients, IV drug users, people who have multiple sex partners, household or sexual contact with someone with HBV infection.
The virus has an incubation period between 30 to 180 days and can be detected within 30 to 60 days after the infection and could lead to chronic HBV. The mode of transmission involves men who have sex with other men; vaginal; seminal; saliva, and menstrual fluid exchanges, having sex without a condom; sharing needles while intravenously injecting drugs; improperly sanitized tattoo equipment and sharing personal items like toothbrushes and razors with infected person.
The risk factors depend on the age of the patient’s infection: 80 to 90 percent of infected infants in the first year of life develop chronic infections. An estimated 30 to 50 percent of chronically infected kids go on to have cirrhosis and liver cancer. And 20 to 30 percent of adults who are chronically infected develop cirrhosis and or liver cancer.
The strange thing about HBV is that it practically has no symptoms for most folks. Or it may feel as if you have the flu. Symptoms include: mild fever; belly pain; jaundice; diarrhea or constipation; headache; feeling very tired; loss of appetite; muscle aches or joint pain; skin rash; constipation, and sick to the stomach.
And for everyone’s peace of mind, you cannot get HBV through casual contact like sneezing, coughing, kissing, hugging or sharing foods.
Typically a lab test is utilized for confirmation of infection. Some infected HBV patients are carriers; they themselves don’t show symptoms but they can infect others. There is no specific treatment for hepatitis B.
Hepatitis C (HCV)
Did you know that 3.2 million people in the U.S. have this disease but don’t know they are infected? It may be an acute, or short-term illness, or chronic, in which case this will be a life-long battle with the disease. Globally, 130 to 150 million are infected with chronic hepatitis C with about 500,000 deaths a year related to liver cancer.
There is an anti-viral treatment with a success rate between 50 to 90 percent, and it reduces occurrences of liver cancer. This virus is not spread through casual contact such as hugging, kissing, sharing food or drink or through breast milk. This is a blood-borne, infectious agent so the at-risk communities include IV drug users, multiple sex partners, HIV infection, intranasal drug users, children born to HCV mothers, and improper tattoos or piercings techniques.
There are two types of HCV, “acute” and “chronic”. Acute means the disease has manifested for less than six months. Chronic means, thusly, that the disease has been hanging around for longer than six months. The chronic condition creates small scarring of the liver which makes the organ work harder. Over the next 20 or more years, 25 percent of chronic hepatitis sufferers develop cirrhosis or cancer.
Contagious periods range from two weeks to six months, once it has infected a person. More than 80 percent of people show no signs of the disease. Others may exhibit abdominal pain, decreased appetite, dark urine, fever, jaundice, joint pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and grey-colored feces.
Because of the lack of symptoms, there may be a delay in diagnosis until a more serious liver disease is discovered. Fifty-five to 85 percent of chronic HCV sufferers are at risk for liver disease or cancer. Over a period of 20 years, the risk is 15 to 30 percent.
By becoming aware of the behaviors that can get you in trouble with hepatitis, you can drastically reduce your chances of acquiring this potentially deadly disease.
If it doesn’t kill you, it will certainly not make you stronger, that’s for sure. Hep will weaken your general health and perhaps leave you in a life-long infectious state.