The following is an enquiry of a person on Hepatitis:
My younger brother, who is 32 years old, has been working in a hotel in the gulf for the last ten years. While doing the routine medical check-up to renew his medical card, he was diagnosed with HBsAg positive. His medical card wasn’t renewed due to this and he was sent back to Kerala as the hotel authorities refused to retain him.
What exactly is this disease? Will those people who maintain close contacts with him get affected as well? Is this condition treatable? A local physician told that there is no proper allopathic treatment for this disease and that my brother’s condition may improve if the available medicines are used for a prolonged period of time. The physician even prescribed an Ayurvedic concoction. My sister-in-law did a blood test and confirmed that she is not infected. However, she has been given a preventive vaccination. The doctor said that their two-year daughter doesn’t need to be vaccinated.
Answer:
Hepatitis could be divided into three types.
1) When the red blood cells get destroyed severely due to diseases.
2) Blockages on the path of the bile that is secreted from the liver, e.g: gallstones
3) Due to diseases in the liver, e.g: Hepatitis A,B and C virus
Usually, children are infected with hepatitis A, which is mostly spread by eating unclean food or drinking contaminated water. This is comparatively harmless and can be prevented with shots of vaccines. However, B and C viruses are not spread through contaminated water. They could be transmitted through blood, semen or other bodily fluids. These viruses are generally transmitted through shared needles and syringes, receiving blood from an infected person or through unhygienic sexual practices. If the wife is still not infected, it could be prevented by taking vaccinations. However, there is no point in getting vaccinated after the virus has already entered the body. There is no need to vaccinate the kids.
It could be assumed that your brother has been infected with this disease, quite recently. It is difficult to completely destroy the hepatitis B and C viruses once they have entered the body. The weak immunity power of the body could destroy the viruses to a certain extent. However, these viruses that stay in the body for years could eventually affect the functioning of other organs as well. The liver is likely to get affected the most. This condition is mostly diagnosed as a fatty liver through scanning and not through a blood test.
