About Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B is a serious inflammation and infection of the liver. It is spread by bodily fluid contact with an infected person and sharing infected needles or personal grooming tools. Hepatitis B can also be passed down prenatally, though this method of the spread of hepatitis B typically occurs in more developing countries. More serious than hepatitis A, many people infected with hepatitis B are unaware that they have an infection for the first few weeks because symptoms lie dormant. Once they start showing, hepatitis B symptoms include, but are not limited to, loss of appetite, nausea, body aches, fever, and eventually can progress to jaundice. These hepatitis B symptoms seem very similar to flu symptoms, which is part of the reason that hepatitis B often goes unchecked.

Making an appointment at a travel clinic in New York will help you to explore your options when it comes to diseases like hepatitis B. A travel doctor in New York will be able to provide you with a hepatitis B vaccine, as well as advice on how to avoid hepatitis B in the country you will be visiting. A travel doctor in New York can also give you the documentation necessary to prove your hepatitis B vaccine.

Hepatitis B Vaccine

Obtaining a hepatitis B vaccine prior to travelling to a high risk area is the best method of prevention. Besides the hepatitis B vaccine, other easy ways to protect yourself against the disease is to practice safe sex and avoid use of needles or other tools that may have been used by an infected person. However, the easiest and most effective way is to protect yourself is to get the hepatitis B vaccine, which is active in your immune system for 12 years after obtaining it. Documentation of a hepatitis B vaccine is often required for entering a high risk country to ensure your own protection.

Hepatitis B Treatment

Hepatitis B treatment is typically used in less than 1% of patients, if it is acute. If the infection is chronic, then hepatitis B treatment will include medication to reduce liver damage or prevent cirrhosis. In either case of infection, hepatitis B treatment revolves around maintaining the immune system, to protect against other viruses that hepatitis B can cause. Depending on the genetic makeup, individuals will respond to hepatitis B treatment differently, so there are a variety of antiviral medications available for different genotypes.