HEPATITIS B WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Hepatitis B is generally the inflammation of the liver due to irritation or infection of the liver by the HBV. Before i proceed i would like to state here that whatever is written on this page is as a result of my experience, i dont have any medical degree or qualification aside from sitting in several hospital wards and staring down the eyes of different phyisicians fearing the worse.

Hepatitis B in layman terms ravages your liver for a while but the Liver is one tough cookie so it fights back and eventually conquers the virus. Usually an infected patient would recover from the virus within six weeks but there are cases that have led to fatalities. Fatalities which is caused by Liver cirrhosis and Cancer of the Liver, this happens when the disease is in its chronic stages, but like already mentioned, the cases resulting to cirrhosis are very few.

HOW DO YOU GET INFECTED

Contracting the virus is actually the scariest part of the infection in my opinion because innocent gestures just like tasting meals using culteries already used by an infected person can get you infected as well. We are usually very open to all sorts of hazards in Nigeria due to our inept government or in most cases our stupidity and refusal to do things right. I remember my wife telling me how her brother was in a local restaurant to eat and saw  another customer dropping a used toothpick back into its container. That single stupid act can spread the virus to about a hundred people in one day, if you consider the fact that another customer will unfortunately use that toothpick. He will use the toilet, deposit the virus, someone else will rush in get infected in the toilet, spread it by using the cutlery or cups in the restaurant. The virus will continue their spread in the office, at home, at church, the mosque etc.

The virus resides in every fluid in the human body and can survive outside of the body as well for at least 7days (WHO), this is what makes it a trickier and more dangerous virus than the HIV. It can be passed on with a light or passionate kiss, two sex partners sweating into each others pores, footballers and other contact sports athletes can pass it by sweat or as they do in football spitting and blowing mucus on the pitch.

In a country like Nigeria as the the restaurant example already states, we are at greater risks of contracting these viruses due to factors as inadequate public hygeine and the wide spread lack of it amongst our several tribes. Especially in commercial cities as Lagos, Kano and Port harcourt where a lot of citizens live their lives on the road. To state clearly, the under listed are the common ways you can contract HBV

Unprotected sex
Sharing needles
Having multiple sex partners
Tattoo parlours
The nail clipping mallam
Using infected toilets
Sharing cutleries
Sweating
Kissing
Using infected toilets
Living with an infected person.

While you ponder on this, don't sit and wonder, go and get tested, it could preserve your live.