Hepatitis
Facts about types of hepatitis
Hepatitis is not one, but actually three specific diseases that attack the liver and cause inflammation: hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. All vary in their symptoms and their degrees of seriousness.
Hepatitis A is most often contracted from contaminated food, water or from close contact with an infected person. Symptoms include abdominal pain, loss of appetite, fatigue, nausea, fever, dark urine, muscle pain, itching, and jaundice. Most symptoms subside with no permanent damage.
One is most likely to get hepatitis B from unprotected sex, contact with infected blood, or drug use. Like Hepatitis A, most infected adults recover fully. It causes permanent liver scarring in some, however. Its symptoms are also more severe than those of hepatitis A. They include abdominal pain, dark urine, joint pain, loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue and jaundice.
The most serious of the three diseases is hepatitis C. It spreads through drug use, sexual contact, and childbirth (infants contract it from their mothers). Additionally, before screening tests went into use it often spread through blood transfusions. Most people infected with the virus have no symptoms in the initial stages and will not even know that they have been infected. They will be surprised when years later the symptoms strike with intensity. The symptoms of hepatitis C include fatigue, fever, nausea, muscle and joint pains, and tenderness in the liver area.
When Did They Discover Hepatitis C?
In the1970s, researchers developed blood tests that identified hepatitis A and B viruses. They realized, however, that many blood-transfusion patients were suffering from an unknown third virus. Not knowing what else to call it, the researchers called the virus non-A, non-B hepatitis.
Then in the 1980s, investigators with the Center for Disease Control and Chiron Corporation used special genetic chemistry to identify the new virus and called it Hepatitis C. In 1990, the first test for Hepatitis C became commercially available and doctors identified an explosion of cases. Infections from blood transfusions subsequently declined.
Prevention
Vaccines are available for Hepatitis A and B. There is no vaccine yet for Hepatitis C, but individuals can minimize their risk of contracting it by adhering to basic rules of a healthy lifestyle: refrain from illicit drugs, limit body piercing and tattooing, practice safe sex, and know about the physical health of your sexual partners.