Understanding Hepatitis

Viral hepatitis is a leading cause of liver disease, liver cancer and live transplant in the United States and is a focus of an annual national awareness campaign that occurs each May.

While viral hepatitis can be caused by a number health conditions, like abusing alcohol, exposure to toxins, or having an autoimmune disease, viral hepatitis is the most common cause of hepatitis. You may be familiar with the three most common forms of hepatitis, which include hepatitis A, B, and C.

Hepatitis A is a virus that is most often spread by eating or drinking contaminated food or water while Hepatitis B can be spread through body fluid like blood, saliva, or sexual activity. hepatitis C is also spread by exposure to blood and high-risk sexual activity, most often through intravenous drug use but can also be spread if you’ve ever shared straws for sniffing drugs.

Symptoms of viral hepatitis can include feeling tired, yellow skin or eyes, clay colored poop, nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite but you may only have mild symptoms when you are first infected or, as in many cases, you could have no symptoms at all!

It’s important to know that even though you might not have any symptoms of viral hepatitis, the virus can still cause a lot of damage to your liver. Often, people only start having symptoms of liver problems after they have developed serious health problems such as severe scarring of the liver (known as cirrhosis) or liver cancer. This is why testing and treatment is so important!

The best way to prevent infection from hepatitis A and B is to get vaccinated. The shots are widely available and free with most insurance. While there is no vaccine for hepatitis C, hand washing, safer sex practices such as using condoms, and avoiding sharing personal items or syringes are easy ways to prevent all forms of viral hepatitis.

Testing to find out if you have viral hepatitis is an important and easy way to prevent accidentally spreading viral hepatitis to others. Testing is simple and can sometimes be done with a simple finger prick test.

Treatment is available for all forms of viral Hepatitis. Treatment for hepatitis A and B is usually supportive, involving rest, hydration, and avoiding things that are toxic to the liver like alcohol. Some people who have hepatitis B may develop chronic hepatitis B and will need to take lifelong, daily medicine to keep the virus under control.

Most people with hepatitis C will need to take medicine to get rid of the virus though about 20% of people are able to clear the virus on their own. For most people, treatment involves blood testing and taking daily medicine for two to three months. The medicines that are currently available are almost 100% effective and most patients have no side effects while taking them.

Your primary care provider can offer hepatitis testing and might even be able to treat you for hepatitis. If treatment with your primary care provider isn’t available, they can refer you to a specialist in your community. If you are living with opioid use disorder (OUD) and would like treatment for both OUD and hepatitis C, you can come to the West Ridge Center Monday-Friday 6am-11am to see a provider and get started (no appointment needed)!

Written by Ben Mahoney, APRN, a provider at the West Ridge Center, a department of Rutland Regional Medical Center