<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHepatitis B infection is caused by\nthe hepatitis B virus (HBV). The virus is passed from person to person through\nblood, semen or other body fluids. Hepatitis B infection does not spread by\nsneezing or coughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Common ways that HBV can spread are:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSexual contact:<\/strong>\nIf you have unprotected sex with someone is infected you can get hepatitis B.\nwhen the blood, saliva, semen or vaginal secretions enter your body the virus\nwill pass on to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSharing of needles:<\/strong> HBV spreads quickly by needles and syringes contaminated with the\ninfected blood. Sharing IV medicines paraphernalia puts you at high risk of\nhepatitis B.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAccidental stuck in needle:<\/strong> Hepatitis B is a problem for health care staff and everyone\nwho comes into human blood contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMother to child:<\/strong> Pregnant women infected with HBV can pass the virus on during childbirth\nto their babies. However, in almost all cases the infant can be vaccinated to\nprevent getting infected. Talk to your doctor about being tested for hepatitis\nB if you are pregnant or want to become pregnant talk to your doctor about\nbeing tested for hepatitis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Acute v\/s chronic Hepatitis B <\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHepatitis B infection can be either\nshort-lived (acute) or long-lasting (chronic).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acute hepatitis B infection<\/strong> lasts less than six months. Your immune system likely can\nclear acute hepatitis B from your body, and you should recover completely\nwithin a few months. Most people who get hepatitis B as adults have an acute\ninfection, but it may lead to chronic infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\nChronic hepatitis B infection<\/strong> lasts five months or longer. This lingers because your\nimmune system cannot fight off the infection. Infection of Chronic hepatitis B\nwill last a lifetime, possibly leading to severe illnesses like cirrhosis and\nliver cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe younger you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re when you get\nhepatitis B \u00e2\u20ac\u201d especially infant or children under 5 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the higher your risk of\nthe infection becoming chronic. Chronic infection may go undetected for decades\nuntil a person gets seriously ill from liver disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Risk Factors<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHepatitis B spreads out from an\ninfected person by contact with blood, semen or other body fluids. Your risk of\ninfection with hepatitis B rises if you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Have
unprotected sex with multiple sex partners or anyone infected with HBV<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Exchange
needles while using IV drug <\/li>\n\n\n\n - Are
you a man who has sex with other men<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Stay
with someone who has a chronic HBV infection<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Born
to an infected mother<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Have
a job that exposes you to human blood<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Travel
to high infection rates of HBV areas with, like Asia, the Pacific Islands,
Africa and Eastern Europe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nComplications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nHaving a chronic HBV infection can\nlead to severe complications, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scarring of the liver:<\/strong> The inflammation associated with a hepatitis B infection may\nlead to extensive liver scarring (cirrhosis), which may impair the liver’s\nability to function.<\/p>\n\n\n\nLiver cancer:<\/strong>\nThere is a high risk of liver cancer in people with chronic hepatitis B\ninfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\nLiver failure:<\/strong>\nAcute liver failure is a disease in which the vital functions of the liver shut\ndown. When that occurs, a liver transplant is necessary to sustain life.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOther conditions:<\/strong> Patients with chronic hepatitis B may develop kidney disease or\ninflammation of blood vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPrevention<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe hepatitis B vaccine is typically\ngiven as three or four injections over six months. You cannot get hepatitis B\nfrom the vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Newborns<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Unvaccinated
children and adolescents at birth<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Those
who work or live in a centre for people who are developmentally disabled<\/li>\n\n\n\n - People
living with someone who has hepatitis B<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Health
care staff, emergency workers and those people who come into contact with blood<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Anybody
who has a sexually transmitted infection, like HIV<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Men
who have sex with men<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Peoples
those have many sexual partners<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Sexual
partners of anyone who has hepatitis B<\/li>\n\n\n\n - People
who inject illegal drugs or share needles and syringes<\/li>\n\n\n\n - People
with chronic liver disease<\/li>\n\n\n\n - People
with end-stage kidney disease<\/li>\n\n\n\n - Travelers
preparing to travel to a region of the world with high hepatitis B infection
rate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n - <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hepatitis B is a severe liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). For certain cases, the infection with hepatitis B infection is chronic, which means it lasts longer than seven months. Chronic hepatitis B raises the risk of contracting liver failure, liver cancer or cirrhosis \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a disease that damages the liver permanently. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcare"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}