Get to know the types of hepatitis viruses and how to prevent them

TYPES OF HEPATITIS VIRUS

Hepatitis A Virus

Hepatitis A virus is spread through the fecal-oral route. this deployment is due to the poor level of cleanliness. In developing countries, outbreaks often occur which are spread through water and food.

Hepatitis B Virus

Transmission is not as easy as the hepatitis A virus. The hepatitis B virus is transmitted through blood or blood products. Transmission usually occurs between drug users who share needles, or between sexual partners (both heterosexual and homosexual men).

Pregnant women who are infected with hepatitis B can transmit the virus to their babies during childbirth. Hepatitis B can be transmitted by healthy people who carry the hepatitis B virus. In the Far East and Africa, some cases of hepatitis B develop into chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Hepatitis C Virus

Causes at least 80% of cases of hepatitis due to blood transfusions. Hepatitis C virus is most often transmitted through drug users who share needles. Sexual transmission is rare. For reasons that remain unclear, people with "alcoholic liver disease" often develop hepatitis C.

Hepatitis can become chronic if not treated properly. A survey stated that injecting drug users who used shared needles were rampant in the past, then 18% contracted hepatitis B, 40% contracted HIV and 70% contracted hepatitis C.

In Indonesia, the prevalence of Hepatitis C sufferers is actually less than 1%, but most of them will become chronic, so the number of chronic sufferers is almost the same as chronic hepatitis B sufferers, which is around 1 million people.

HEPATITIS PREVENTION

Vaccines are available for the prevention of hepatitis A and B which are single vaccines or combined vaccines. Immunity to Hepatitis A reaches 99-100% a month after receiving the second vaccine (the second vaccine 6 months after the first). Hepatitis A vaccine should not be used for people under one year of age. The hepatitis B vaccine has been available since 1986 and has been applied to at least 177 national immunization programs for children. Immunity occurred in more than 95% of children and young adults who received 3 doses of the recombinant vaccine, one month after the third vaccine (vaccination schedules were 0, 1 month and 6 months).

Friends of Hermina, don't forget to take the hepatitis vaccine as one of the steps to prevent hepatitis, because prevention is certainly better than cure. Healthy greetings.