Contents:
- Medical Video: The Truth about Hepatitis B
- 1. Get vaccinated
- 2. Get used to washing hands
- 3. Be careful with using needles
- 4. Know when to share and what can be shared
- 5. Having safe sex
- 6. Pay attention to your food and drink
- 7. Know your family history
Medical Video: The Truth about Hepatitis B
Hepatitis is one of the highest problems occurring in Indonesia. The Ministry of Health even mentioned that extraordinary events had occurred in Indonesia due to the many Indonesian people affected by hepatitis A and E.
There are five types of hepatitis, namely hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. Each hepatitis has a different pathway of transmission and transmission, but both are caused by viral infections. Hepatitis B and C virus infections can occur due to physical contact and body fluid contact. While transmission of hepatitis A and E is usually through water, food, and life behavior that is not clean. Hepatitis D is a continuation of hepatitis B, the hepatitis B virus that accumulates and then forms the hepatitis D virus.
The various symptoms that can be caused by hepatitis are loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fatigue, fever, pain in the joints of the bones, eyes and skin becoming yellow. Almost all hepatitis A sufferers can be cured within a few weeks or months. Unlike hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C are the forerunners of chronic liver disease that can cause damage to liver cells, liver cancer, and even death.
Then how to prevent you and your family from viral hepatitis? Here are tips that you can do:
1. Get vaccinated
Hepatitis A and B vaccines turned out to be an effective prevention method to reduce the incidence of hepatitis. This vaccine can be done in one vaccine or in a different vaccine. But until now, hepatitis C cannot be prevented by vaccines because there are no vaccines available to prevent the disease. The following are vaccines that can prevent hepatitis A and B:
- Hepatitis A vaccine (Havrix and Vata), given twice in a row with a delay of 6 months
- Hepatitis B vaccine (Recombivax HB, Comvax, and Engerix-B), which is a vaccine made from an inactive virus and can be given 3 or 4 times in 6 months.
- The combination of hepatitis A and B vaccines (twirinx), which is a vaccine given by dividing it into 3 series.
For children, the first vaccine can be given when children are 12 to 23 months old. Whereas for women who are pregnant, it is better to discuss this with the doctor for fear of having an impact on the health of the fetus they contain. When a vaccine is given to people at risk for hepatitis, the body will be stimulated to make antibodies. These antibodies will "fight" the hepatitis virus if at any time it enters the body.
2. Get used to washing hands
Make a habit in your family to wash hands before and after meals, after from the bathroom, and before and after processing food ingredients. This can prevent you and your family from getting hepatitis, especially hepatitis A and E because the disease spreads from feces (feces) to food / drinks consumed. In addition, keeping your body clean is also important, so the risk of getting hepatitis is getting smaller.
3. Be careful with using needles
Needles or other non-sterile medical equipment can be a means of spreading hepatitis. This must be watched out especially by medical personnel who make direct contact with people with hepatitis. In addition, the use of needles arbitrarily such as needles used to make tattoos or needles used interchangeably when using banned drugs, can be the most likely and often cause of hepatitis.
4. Know when to share and what can be shared
Sharing with others is not a bad thing to do, but you and your family must know when the right time to share and what things should be shared. Sharing items such as toys, books, or other things may not be a problem. But sharing toothbrushes, razors, nail clippers, and various personal items can increase the risk of getting hepatitis. This includes medical equipment that is in direct contact with the wearer's body fluids or blood. Use with these devices should be avoided to prevent transmission of hepatitis. Because, sometimes patients who experience hepatitis do not show symptoms and signs that are visible, so choose which items can be shared and which can not be shared.
5. Having safe sex
Three of the five types of hepatitis, transmission is caused by sexual intercourse. So, it is important for you to know the history of your partner's illness. If indeed your spouse or family partner has a history of hepatitis, you should have sexual relations using a condom.
6. Pay attention to your food and drink
Even though you and your family are accustomed to keeping food and body clean by washing their hands cleanly, keep in mind what you and your family will eat because not necessarily the person who prepares the food or drink keeps himself clean like you and your family. Raw food, actually tends to run the risk of transmitting hepatitis, therefore it is better if you eat outside the home, choose a menu whose food is guaranteed to mature. If you are traveling and sanitation around your environment is not clean, then avoid drinking raw water and it's better to buy bottled mineral water.
7. Know your family history
Find out if there is anyone in your family who has experienced hepatitis before, if so then you and your family should at least be more aware of the risks of transmission that might occur. Perform vaccination on time to prevent the occurrence of hepatitis.
READ ALSO
- How Hepatitis B Can Develop into Primary Liver Cancer
- Guide for those of you who live with hepatitis C
- 5 Important Facts about Hepatitis You Need to Know
