American Medical Association Family Medical Guide - American Medical Association [515]
An infected pregnant woman can transmit the hepatitis B virus to her baby during a vaginal delivery. Giving the baby an injection of antibodies to fight the virus and a vaccination within 24 hours of birth can help to prevent infection; this treatment is effective in 95 percent of cases. Like all newborns in the United States, the babies of infected women also receive the required series of three hepatitis B vaccinations during the first 6 months of life. A few months after they receive the last dose of the vaccine, they are tested to determine if their body is making antibodies against the virus, which will protect them from hepatitis B for life. Infected mothers can safely breastfeed their babies because the hepatitis B virus is not transmitted in breast milk.
When first infected with hepatitis B, a person may not have any symptoms or may have mild flulike symptoms, including loss of appetite, fatigue, muscle aches, fever, and possibly jaundice. The virus can be in the body for an incubation period of 45 to 180 days or more before symptoms develop. During this time, however, a person is highly infectious and can spread the virus to other people. A person continues to be infectious even after the symptoms have cleared up.
Most people who are infected with hepatitis B develop antibodies against the virus and recover with no treatment within 6 months. They become immune to the virus for life and can no longer spread it to others. However, in about 5 to 10 percent of infected adults, the virus stays in the body, often without causing any noticeable symptoms, and can infect other people. This percentage is much higher in infected children and in people who have a weakened immune system. A person who continues to harbor the virus is called a carrier. Carriers are at increased risk of eventually developing cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure. The only way to know if you are infected or if you carry the virus is to have a blood test that looks specifically for hepatitis B. (The hepatitis B virus may not show up on the test during the incubation period, so you will need to repeat the test.)
WARNING!
Don’t Combine Alcohol and Acetaminophen
Using the over-the-counter pain reliever acetaminophen with alcohol on a regular basis can cause severe liver damage and liver failure. If you have hepatitis, your doctor will recommend that you avoid alcohol altogether. But even people without liver disease should avoid taking acetaminophen if they drink alcohol regularly (especially if they consume more than two or three drinks a day).
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is inflammation of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus, which is more likely than the other hepatitis viruses to become chronic. The disease can progress slowly for 10 to 40 years, eventually causing liver damage in some people. The infection is transmitted through contact with an infected person’s blood. Those most at risk of contracting hepatitis C are intravenous drug users who share needles with an infected person, or people who have unsanitary tattooings or body piercings. Less commonly, the infection can be transmitted sexually.
The virus used to be spread primarily through blood transfusions, but all donor blood in the United States is now screened for the virus. However, you could have hepatitis C if you received a blood transfusion or organ transplant before 1992 or blood products (such as clotting factors used for treating