Hepatitis

What is hepatitis?

Hepatitis is a family of viruses that affect the liver and is transmitted by bodily fluids, including semen. The hepatitis viruses make your liver become inflamed and stop working well. A healthy liver helps your body fight infections, stops bleeding, filters drugs and toxins from your blood, and stores energy. Hepatitis can be mild and last a relatively short time, or be very serious and cause liver failure and death. There are two types of the hepatitis virus — B and C — identified with STDs. These hepatitis viruses can be passed from person to person through body fluids such as semen, during sexual activity.
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How do I know if I or a partner has hepatitis?

Many women with hepatitis have no symptoms of the disease. For others, symptoms can include fever, headache, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Later signs of hepatitis, when a woman has been infected for some time, include dark-colored urine, pale feces, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, and the skin and the whites of the eyes turning yellow (jaundice).
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How do women get hepatitis and how is it diagnosed?

Hepatitis B and C are passed from person to person through blood or body fluids such as semen. Hepatitis B and C can be passed to a woman having unprotected sex with an infected partner, including anal-oral contact during sex. Hepatitis B and C are also spread through sharing needles or “works” when shooting drugs, through needle sticks or sharps exposure on the job, being tattooed with unsterile needles, sharing a toothbrush or razor with an infected person, or being bitten by an infected person. An infected mother can give hepatitis B to her baby during birth or through breast milk.

The hepatitis virus is diagnosed by a health care provider by performing specific blood tests. Hepatitis is usually diagnosed when someone becomes infected and feels ill, but patients often don’t realize it can be sexually transmitted to others. Because the signs and symptoms of a hepatitis infection can seem non-serious or flu-like, it is important to confirm a hepatitis infection by visiting a health care provider who can perform the necessary diagnostic tests.
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What are the complications of hepatitis?

Hepatitis B
Although a Hepatitis B infection can become chronic or long term only in some adults, there is a much greater risk among infants born to infected mothers—more than 90%! Death from chronic liver disease occurs in nearly 25% of people with a chronic hepatitis B infection. Women at risk for the hepatitis B infection might also be at risk for infection with hepatitis C because both are sexually transmitted.

Hepatitis C
Most people with hepatitis C don’t have any symptoms, so they are unlikely to be diagnosed and are more at risk for a long-term infection. Three-fourths of the women infected with hepatitis C develop chronic liver disease, which can lead to liver failure and sometimes death. A chronic hepatitis C infection is the number one reason people need a liver transplant.
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What are the treatments for hepatitis?

In general, health care providers suggest bed rest, eating healthy foods, and not drinking alcohol or taking certain medications when you have hepatitis. Some specific recommendations include getting vaccinated against hepatitis infections.

Hepatitis B
People infected with hepatitis B should be evaluated by their doctor for liver disease. Hepatitis B infections are treated with a combination of powerful drugs, including interferon, developed specifically to fight the hepatitis B virus. Drinking alcohol can worsen the liver disease (cirrhosis), and in time, many infected people still develop liver failure and need a liver transplant. A vaccine is available to prevent hepatitis B infections.

Hepatitis C
People infected with hepatitis C should be evaluated by their health care provider for chronic liver disease. Hepatitis C is treated with a type of chemotherapy using the drug interferon in combination with other drugs specifically licensed for treatment of persons with chronic hepatitis C. No vaccine is available to prevent hepatitis C. As with the hepatitis B virus, drinking alcohol can worsen liver disease.
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