Hepatitis

• Hepatitis A is not as damaging to liver cells as the other known forms of hepatitis, but it makes people very sick.
• Hepatitis A virus lives in the intestines of an infected person. When a person passes stool (poop), the virus is in it and can be spread to another person if that person gets some of the infected stool into his or her own intestinal tract. This is called the fecal-oral route. Some examples...
  • An infected person goes to the bathroom, does not wash his/her hands well enough and prepares food for others.
  • Drinking water that has been contaminated with sewer water, or was not properly treated with germ killing chemicals before drinking. This is a very common way to spread certain diseases in countries and areas with poor sanitation conditions.
  • Eating uncooked foods, such as fresh fruits, veggies, or ice cubes, that were irrigated or prepared with contaminated water.
• Hepatitis A is easily preventable with good hand washing and good sanitation techniques. There is also a vaccine available that is highly recommended before travel to under- developed countries.

• Hepatitis B causes very serious illness and in a small number of people, it causes death.
• It is usually spread when an infected person’s blood or body fluids are passed to another person during...
  • Vaginal Sex
  • Oral Sex
  • Anal Sex
  • Sharing needles or other objects, like razors, toothbrushes, and tattoo, body piercing and hair removal equipment.
• People can have the virus for a long time before they realize it. This is why so many people get Hepatitis B—up to 300,000 people every year.
• Some people never get sick, yet they can spread the virus with every contact—they are called chronic carriers.
• Some people who get sick never completely recover, their livers can fail to work properly. Between 4,000 and 6,000 people die every year in the U.S. from liver failure caused by hepatitis.
• Hepatitis B can be prevented with a series of 3 vaccine injections. They are available here at WSTC as well as other clinics. For the past several years, the Hepatitis B vaccine has been included in the series of vaccines given to newborns.

• Hepatitis C is mostly spread through blood contact, like when sharing drug needles, tattoo and body piercing or hair removal equipment.
• It can also be spread through sex.
• Millions of people may be infected with Hepatitis C though blood and blood products.
• It was unknown for many years, then thought to be relatively harmless because it seemed to produce no symptoms. Now, it is know that it remains in the body silently for many years, and then can cause very serious symptoms and sever liver disease.

Call us at WSTC if you have any questions about herpes, or any other subjects that affect teens and young adults. We are here to help.