Doctors

The hepatitis symptoms visible in a person vary depending upon the stage and the kind of viral hepatitis the person is affected with. This article is divided into two parts that explain different topics. The first part throws light on the common symptoms of different types of hepatitis whereas the second part enlightens you about the known types of hepatitis and the basic differentiation between them.

Common Symptoms of Hepatitis

Symptom No 1 — Hepatitis

Although, it might sound weird to you but actually hepatitis itself is the first visible symptom of hepatitis. Hepatitis in medical terms means inflammation of the heap or liver organ.

Symptom No 2 — Acute Phase of Hepatitis

The symptoms of the hepatitis do last as long as a few weeks and can span other effects like

• Flu
• Light and pale colored stool
• Jaundice like symptoms with eyes and skin turning yellow
• Dark urination
• Feeling of extreme Fatigueless
• Nausea and Vomiting
• Pain in Abdomen

Symptom No 3 — Chronic Phase of Hepatitis

All the active carriers who are under the effect of chronic hepatitis show progressive symptoms of the disease that slowly but eventually damage their liver. Jaundice, loss of appetite, weight loss and malaria are the common symptoms displayed by the active carriers. On the other hand, the passive carriers of hepatitis don’t show any of these symptoms still they can infect others. Doctors and other health professionals recommend supplements such as Milk Thistle to the patients who are suffering from the chronic hepatitis.

Difference between the different Hepatitis Symptoms

HAV — Hepatitis A Symptoms

Hepatitis A commonly occurs due to overcrowding of space and poor sanitation system. It is also known as Infectious Hepatitis as its transmission to the infected people id through food and water contaminated with fecal matter, hepatitis virus in the blood and on the hands of the people. The parturition period of the virus lasts between 15 to 45 days and the onset of the hepatitis can be very abrupt. The sudden onset of the hepatitis is marked by the high fever. The Hepatitis B and C are different from Hepatitis A as in these two types the incubation period of the virus is much longer. The Hepatitis A virus infects over 150,000 Americans each year still the infection state never turns out to be chronic. Generally, all the cases are very mild without any complications.

Healthy Liver and Cirrhosis Liver

HBV — Hepatitis B Symptoms

HBV is the common name for Hepatitis B virus in the medical circles. Other commonly referred names are Long Incubation Hepatitis and Serum Hepatitis. It is actually the most deterrent pathogen that happens to be bloodborne. More than 6800 health care professionals were infected by HBV in the year 1992. Out of the 250 hospitalized, 100 died due to further complications in their infections. HBV has a rather long incubation period ranging between 50 days to 180 days during which the virus can potentially appear in the infected person’s urine, fecal matter, semen, sweat and tears; spreading across the body without any visible signs of it being there.

The beginning of HBV is often marked by mild flu-type symptoms coupled with Acute Hepatitis Symptoms. However, about 70% of the patients remain infectious for more than three months even after the acute stage symptoms have subsided. For 5%-10% of the cured patients, the case is altogether different, as they become lifelong carriers of the infection. Often these lifelong carriers develop liver cancer and cirrhosis. To keep the organ liver of these lifelong carriers in a healthy state, medical professionals prescribe chronic hepatitis patients for a milk thistle diet.

HCV — Hepatitis C Symptoms

You can pick HCV or Hepatitis C virus if you are exposed to contaminated blood. Occurring mostly in adults, it very common in Intra Venous drug users. It is a form of “Blood Transfusion Associated” Hepatitis. With an incubation period of 20 days to 90 days for the virus, most of the positive cases of HCV are unearthed between 5th and 10th week after exposure to virus. With the advancement of chronic stage, the infectious stage ends abruptly. With an insidiously acute stage of HCV showing symptoms such as vomiting, jaundice, nausea and anorexia, more than half the HCV infected persons develop into chronic patients. Many even advance onto develop liver cancer and cirrhosis. Milk Thistle yet again is the most trusted diet by the healthcare professionals to keep their patient’s liver in a healthy state.