July 28, 2024 – World Hepatitis Day
The first World Hepatitis Day was celebrated on May 19, 2008.
In 2011, WHO representatives decided to move the date of the event to July 28, dedicating it to the memory of the outstanding American doctor and scientist Baruch Samuel Blumberg, who discovered the hepatitis B virus in 1964 and became a laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1976 for the discovery of the hepatitis B virus and research in the field of hepatitis B treatment.
Parenteral viral hepatitis is a group of infectious diseases, known as hepatitis B, C, and D, that affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic liver disease and leading to approximately 1.4 million deaths annually.
Hepatitis B is an infectious disease of viral origin with predominant liver damage. It occurs in acute and chronic forms.
Transmission routes of viral hepatitis B
There are many ways to contract hepatitis B. The most common ones include:
- sexual contact;
- from mother to child during childbirth;
- contact with the blood of an infected person;
- sharing the same toothbrush, razor, washcloth, manicure set;
- during medical procedures for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes;
- using non-sterile needles for ear piercing, body piercing, acupuncture, tattooing;
- using non-sterile syringes (drug users);
- when patients receive blood products;
- when using drugs;
- when food is pre-chewed for a child.
The hepatitis B virus is detected in the saliva, tears, urine, and feces of infected individuals. It is believed that the hepatitis B virus does not penetrate through intact external integuments (skin, mucous membranes). This means that hepatitis B is not transmitted through household contact, nor through conversation, sneezing, etc. Therefore, a person with hepatitis B is not dangerous to others. The patient should not be socially isolated.
Hepatitis D is a viral liver disease that can occur in both acute and chronic forms, the development of which requires the presence of the hepatitis B virus. Without the presence of hepatitis B in the patient's body, infection with hepatitis D is impossible.
The hepatitis D virus directly damages liver cells.
This is how it differs from hepatitis B infection, where most liver damage occurs due to the body's own immune system's attempts to destroy the affected cells.
Causes of Hepatitis D
Hepatitis D is a blood-borne infection transmitted through contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person.
Main routes of hepatitis D virus transmission:
- surgical interventions, blood transfusions;
- contact with blood or objects contaminated with the blood of an infected person (razors, toothbrushes, manicure tools, medical instruments);
- during non-medical procedures - intravenous drug use, piercing, tattooing;
- unprotected sexual contact;
- during childbirth - vertical transmission of the virus (from mother to child).
Hepatitis C is a viral infectious disease that causes liver inflammation, often leading to severe liver damage. The hepatitis C virus is spread through infected blood.
Until recently, hepatitis C treatment required weekly injections and oral medications that many people infected with the virus could not use due to other health problems or severe side effects.
Today, the situation has changed – new-generation drugs have been developed, and with their help, chronic hepatitis C is treatable.
Nevertheless, about half of people with hepatitis C are unaware that they are infected, as the disease often proceeds asymptomatically.
Therefore, hepatitis C screening should be performed regularly, especially if there are risk factors for infection.
Causes of Hepatitis C
1. The disease usually spreads when the blood of a person infected with the hepatitis C virus enters the body of an uninfected person. This is especially common among drug users.
2. People who frequently receive blood transfusions and have been on hemodialysis for a long time are at risk.
3. Newborns are susceptible to infection if their mother has hepatitis C.
In addition, there are rare, but still possible, situations of viral infection:
1. Sharing personal hygiene items that may have come into contact with the blood of an infected person (razors, scissors, or toothbrushes).
2. Sexual contact with a person infected with the hepatitis C virus.
3. Tattoos or piercings performed under unsanitary conditions.
The hepatitis C virus is not transmitted through sharing cutlery, hugging, kissing, holding hands, coughing or sneezing, or through insect bites. It is also not spread through food or water.
Parenteral viral hepatitis B, D, and C represent one of the most significant global medical and social public health problems. The relevance and high importance of this infectious pathology are determined by the medical, epidemiological, social, and economic aspects of the problem. The risk of acute viral hepatitis C progressing to a chronic form is quite high, reaching 70-80%.
The primary task of global healthcare is the ELIMINATION (removal, disappearance) OF VIRAL HEPATITIS by 2030. The basic directions on the path to solving this crucial task are prevention, testing, and treatment.
Prevention includes:
1. Hepatitis B vaccination. The vaccine used is highly effective and well-tolerated, with additional therapeutic effects (activates immunity, prevents the proliferation of scar tissue in the liver, and has an anti-cancer effect). At least 98% of vaccinated individuals develop immunity lasting 15 years or more. Hepatitis B vaccination is carried out in outpatient healthcare organizations at the place of residence of the population; in the Rossony district, it is administered at the district polyclinic of the healthcare institution "Rossony Central District Hospital".
2. Individuals in contact with a person infected with viral hepatitis B should undergo periodic examinations (but at least once a year) for viral hepatitis B markers and be vaccinated against viral hepatitis B.
3. Strict refusal of drugs.
4. A reliable, single sexual partner.
5. Use of condoms during casual sexual contact. (The risk of infection during unprotected sexual contact for hepatitis C can reach 10%, for hepatitis B up to 40%).
6. Individuals infected with viral hepatitis B should undergo annual medical examinations at healthcare facilities at their place of residence. Patients infected with hepatitis C should be vaccinated against viral hepatitis B.
7. Exercise caution with all procedures that breach the integrity of the skin and mucous membranes – such as tattoos, piercings, manicures, etc., if they are performed in unsuitable, questionable conditions where the principle of sterility of instruments and equipment is not observed.
8. Use only individual personal hygiene items: shaving and manicure accessories, towels, scissors, combs, washcloths, toothbrushes.
Despite new possibilities and progress achieved in patient treatment, it has been established that complete elimination of the hepatitis B virus from the human body remains impossible at present. Patients with hepatitis B require long-term and often lifelong treatment. At the same time, the main goal of hepatitis C therapy is the complete eradication of the virus from the body, which is possible in 99% of cases.
Take care of your health and the health of your loved ones!
State Institution "Rossony Regional Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology", 2024