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HEPATITIS B
HEPATITIS B

How You Get It (Exposure):

Hepatitis B virus can be found in an infected individual’s blood, semen and other bodily fluids. You are contagious before you know you are sick and for sometime after you feel better. People with chronic hepatitis are still infectious. Men who have sex with men are at high risk for hepatitis B. You can get it from an infected person through unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse, shared needles (including tattoo needles), toothbrushes, razors and sex toys –- all it takes is a microscopic amount of infected blood. Oral sex with an infected partner carries a low risk for hepatitis B infection.

Warning Signs (Symptoms):

Hepatitis B symptoms are extremely variable, both in severity and duration. Some people get deathly ill, most others don’t even realize they are sick. The most common symptom is profound fatigue –- some feel that they can’t even get out of bed. Other common symptoms include nausea and vomiting (generally worsening as the day progresses), loss of appetite, fever, muscle aches and a dull upper abdominal discomfort. Loss of a desire for cigarettes is a classic sign of hepatitis. Most people develop jaundice (they turn a lovely shade of yellow, most noticeable in the whites of their eyes). This results from your liver’s inability to process bile. Your urine darkens and your stool can turn to a sand color.

Getting Checked Out (Diagnosis) / Treatment:

A check of your blood will tell if your liver is inflamed (enzymes from diseased liver cells spill into your blood and elevated the level above normal). Different blood tests check for parts of the hepatitis B virus or antibodies that your body manufactures to fight it. If either of these is present, your doctor knows that you have hepatitis B.

There are no medications designed specifically to treat acute hepatitis. Treatment is generally described as "supportive," with the key components being rest, good nutrition, and careful monitoring to be sure your liver recovers. Hospitalization is rare, but occasionally necessary if you cannot take in adequate food and water or if you are too weak to remain at home. Avoid all alcohol and drugs, which further tax your liver, until you are fully recovered. See you doctor regularly to monitor your liver function and nutritional status.

You don't need to be quarantined just because you have hepatitis B. Safer-sex practices are critical to keep your partners free from infection, and many doctors recommend abstinence until after your complete recovery –- unless of course your partner has had the vaccine which will protect him/her from infection.

If Left Untreated:

Most often the virus infects your liver, and your body’s own immune response wages a battle that eventually destroys the virus. The body cannot clear approximately 5 to 10 percent of infections in people with normal immune systems, leaving the hepatitis B virus active in the liver, to destroy it little by little. This is called chronic active hepatitis. In extreme cases, it can eventually lead to cirrhosis, liver failure and death. In people with HIV and other immune disorders, hepatitis B becomes chronic almost 90 percent of the time.

Prevention:

Get vaccinated! Hepatitis B is completely preventable with a series of three shots given over six months (you need all three shots for the vaccine to work). Despite the fact that doctors recommend that all men who have sex with men get vaccinated, less than half do. If you think you've been exposed to hepatitis B but have never had the vaccine, your doctor can give you an immediate injection of immune globulin that contains antibodies to hepatitis and can keep you from catching the virus. You should combine this with the regular vaccine. Today, all newborns in the United States are vaccinated for hepatitis B, and this will hopefully translate into reduced risk in years to come.

Prevalence:

It's estimated that hepatitis B infects between 140,000 to 320,000 Americans each year, and 1.25 million have chronic hepatitis B infections. Before HIV, hepatitis B was the most dangerous sexually transmitted infection gay men faced.


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