Hepatitis B

Symptoms of Hepatitis B :

• Exposure to hepatitis B  perinatally or in early infancy usually leads to chronic infection

• The natural course of chronic hepatitis B progresses through three stages:    Immune tolerance; active disease; and a late phase with reduced viral replication

• Approximately 25 per cent of patients with chronic hepatitis B will develop cirrhosis, causing permanent and serious liver damage.

• Chronic carriers of hepatitis B are far more likely to develop hepato-cellularcarcinoma than non-carriers

• The course of hepatitis B is determined by many factors, including immune response, host genetic factors, and HBV mutations.

• The incubation period of acute hepatitis B ranges from about 4 weeks to 6 months. children infected with HBV are sub-clinical, but most adults infected with HBV have some non-specific symptoms such as malaise and anorexia, or may experience jaundice. 
• A cirrhotic liver is degenerate and physically distorted as a result of fibrosis. The damage is permanent and serious because liver function is impaired, and may lead to liver failure. Patients in the early stages of liver failure experience malaise and fluid retention and have an enlarged liver and spleen. Pressure within the portal vein which serves the liver increases and can result in the rupture of the esophageal veins. Rapid and extensive blood loss can follow, requiring urgent medical treatment. Reduced levels of clotting factors in the blood increases the severity of this problem. During the final phase, the patient becomes jaundiced and may become mentally confused and eventually lapses into a coma and dies.
• Primary hepatocellular carcinoma is among the most common cancers in the world. The association between HBV and hepatocellular carcinoma, which develops years after the initial infection, is now well-established. Chronic carriers are about 200 times more likely to develop hepatocellular carcinoma than uninfected individuals living in the same area. Approximately 20 per cent of patients with cirrhosis will develop hepatocellular carcinoma. When symptoms appear, the patient is already at the terminal stage and survival times are generally only a few months, depending on existing liver function at the time of diagnosis.

   

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