Hepatitis B Essay

669 Words2 Pages

1 Hepatitis B
1.1 Hepatitis B virus
Hepatitis B (HBV) is a blood-borne viral liver infection with various routs of transmission. It is one of the most common and serious liver diseases in the world and a leading cause of death worldwide. If the infection becomes chronic the infection can lead to liver failure, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
The HBV virus is transmitted through contact with contaminated blood or other body fluids such as serum, semen and salvia. The condition following the infection can either be classified as acute or chronic HBV.
Acute and Chronic HBV infection
Acute HBV infection is the most common type of infection in low endemic countries. The incubation period, from transmission to clearness, ranges from 40-180 days. The infection is either symptomatic or asymptomatic/ fulminant hepatitis. Children under the age of 5 years rarely experience symptomatic infection (10%), where’s about 30-40% infected adults and children above age 5 experience a symptomatic infection with yellowing of skin and teeth, vomiting, fatigue, laxity and abdominal pain [1].
HBV infection is detected by levels of HbsAg or HBV-DNA in the infected person’s body. 90% of those infected above age 5 recover within 6 months and are immune and completely free of HBV for the rest of their life [1].

Figure 2: A representation of the clinical spectrum and potential outcomes to expect after hepatitis B virus infection. (2b)*incidence per 100 person years.
Chronic HBV is developed when HBV infection dose not result in immunization and is defined as existence of HbsAG in the body for more than six months [1]. Progression from acute HBV to chronic HBV is highly influenced by the age at infection and is a common state for those infected at...

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...or children. The specific way of transmission is difficult to identify. Most common assumptions have been that transmission has occurred through skin lesions or by sharing blood contaminated objects. Infected saliva is another source of infection especially as a non-parental infection. The virus has the ability to enter a healthy body as an airborne disease by coughing and sneezing, from mouth-to-mouth kissing, biting or by sharing chewed toys and candies [2, airborn]

REFRENSES
1a - Epidemiology of acute and chronic hepatitis B virus infection in Norway, 1992-2009 - Gražina Rimšelienė1,2*, Øivind Nilsen2, Hilde Kløvstad2, Hans Blystad2 and Preben Aavitsland2
2b - http://www.aphc.info/pdf/archives/2004/07PHC_Book_Chapter15.pdf natural history of hepatitis B and profnostic factors of Disease Progression. Giovanna Fattovich, Irene Zagni, Chiara Scattolini. Paris 2004

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