Hepatitis Causes and Symptoms

What is hepatitis B?
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. Most adults who get hepatitis B have it for a short time and then get better. This is called acute hepatitis B.

You can have hepatitis B and not know it. You may not have symptoms. If you do, they can make you feel like you have the flu. But as long as you have the virus, you can spread it to others.
Sometimes the virus does not go away. This is called chronic hepatitis B. Over time, it can damage your liver. Babies and young children infected with the virus are more likely to get chronic hepatitis B.

What causes hepatitis B?

Hepatitis B is caused by the hepatitis B virus. It is spread through contact with the blood and body fluids of an infected person. Hepatitis B is one of the most easily spread (contagious) forms of viral hepatitis, which includes hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. However, hepatitis has many other causes, including some medications, long-term alcohol use, fatty deposits in the liver, and exposure to certain industrial chemicals.

How HBV is spread?
HBV is spread when blood, semen, or vaginal fluids (including menstrual blood) from an infected person enter another person's body, usually in one of the following ways:

• Sexual contact:The hepatitis B virus can enter the body through a break in the lining of the rectum, vagina, urethra, or mouth. Sexual contact is the most important risk factor for the spread of HBV in North America.

• Sharing needles: People who share needles and other equipment (such as cotton, spoons, and water) used for injecting illegal drugs may inject HBV-infected blood into their veins.

• Work-related exposure: People who handle blood or instruments used to draw blood may become infected with the virus. Health care workers are at risk of becoming infected with the virus if they are accidentally stuck with a used needle or other sharp instrument infected with an infected person's blood, or if blood splashes onto an exposed surface, such as the eyes, mouth, or a cut in the skin.

• Childbirth. A newborn baby can get the virus from his or her mother during delivery when the baby comes in contact with the mother's body fluids in the birth canal (perinatal transmission) . However, breast-feeding does not transmit the virus from a woman with HBV to her child.

• Body piercing and tattoos. HBV can be spread when needles used for body piercing or tattooing is not properly cleaned (sterilized) and HBV-infected blood enters a person's skin.

• Toiletries:Grooming items such as razors and toothbrushes can spread HBV if they carry blood from a person who is infected with the virus.
In the past, blood transfusions were a common means of spreading HBV. Today, all donated blood in the United States is screened for the virus, so it is extremely unlikely that you could become infected with the virus from a blood transfusion.

Contagious and incubation periods

Symptoms appear an average of 60 to 90 days (although they can appear 45 to 180 days) after you have contact with the hepatitis B virus (incubation period). Blood, semen, and vaginal fluids (including menstrual blood), whether fresh or dried, are highly contagious (HBV can be easily spread) during this period and for several weeks after the onset of symptoms.

• Blood contains the highest quantities of the hepatitis B virus.

• Blood and other body fluids that contain the virus can remain contagious for at least a
week and possibly much longer, even if they are dried.
If you have a short-term HBV (acute) infection, you usually cannot spread the virus after antibodies against the surface antigen of HBV appear. This generally takes several weeks. If you have a long-term (chronic) HBV infection, you are able to spread the virus as long as the condition lasts.

A mother who has the virus can pass it to her baby during delivery. If you are pregnant and think you may have been exposed to hepatitis B, get tested. If you have the virus, your baby can get shots to help prevent the virus.
You cannot get hepatitis B from casual contact such as hugging, kissing, sneezing, coughing, or sharing food or drinks.

What are the symptoms?

Less than half of those with short-term (acute) hepatitis B infections have symptoms. Symptoms include:
• Jaundice (the skin and whites of the eyes appear yellow). Although jaundice is the defining sign of hepatitis B, it does not occur in most cases. Jaundice usually appears after other symptoms have started to go away.
• Extreme tiredness (fatigue).
• Mild fever.
• Headache.
• Loss of appetite.
• Nausea.
• Vomiting.
• Constant discomfort on the right side of the abdomen under the rib cage, where the liver is located. In most people, the discomfort is made worse when their bodies are jarred or if they overwork themselves.
• Diarrhea or constipation.
• Muscle aches.
• Joint pain.
• Skin rash.

Home Remedies for Heart ailments,Hysteria,Insomnia,Itching,Jaundice,Kidney ailments,Leucoderma or vitiligo using basil leaves

The uses of basil are many and varied. Most of its claims have been verified scientifically, while others remain in the borderline of skepticism and disbelief. The general uses for which it is prescribed as a home remedy ranges from the common cough and cold to blood-pressure symptoms and even paralysis and hemiplegia. I give below some of the more common ailments and their treatment with the use of basil alone or in combination with other herbs.

• Heart ailments:

As basil has a positive effect over blood pressure and also a de-toxicant, its regular use prevents heart attacks. A tonic may be prepared by mixing 1 gm of dry basil leaves with a spoonful of butter and some candy sugar or honey. Take twice a day; first thing in the morning and before going to bed at night. The wearing of a garland of basil stalks is said to prevent heart attacks. It was common to see Englishmen wearing these “necklaces” during the 19th century in India.

• Hysteria:

Smell the crushed leaves of basil and drink the juice of five basil leaves.

• Insomnia:

The best solution to this tricky problem is to place a few leaves of basil inside the pillow; a specific number of 51 is prescribed, with 50 being placed inside the pillow case and the 51st being chewed upon by the patient. Basil leaves may also be placed around the corners and head of the bed under the bed sheet.

• Itching:

Massage the itching areas with the juice of basil leaves. In chronic cases, make a massage oil by mixing two parts of basil juice with one part of sesame/mineral oil and warming over a water bath; cool and store in a bottle. Use this oil for itches of any type for local relief. For a permanent cure, see a qualified Homoeopathic physician.

• Jaundice:

Add two teaspoons of basil juice to 50ml of radish juice; sweeten with a little jaggery (raw sugar). Drink this juice twice or three times a day for a month for total relief.

• Kidney ailments:

Basil juice is unparalleled in the treatment of all sorts of kidney troubles. Soak overnight about 5-7 gms (one teaspoonful) of Basil seeds in water; next morning grind the seeds with candy sugar and drink the combination. Copious micturition will be induced and soon the congestion will be relieved and infection (if any) will be removed.

• Leucoderma (vitiligo):

(a) To a little basil juice add a few drops of lime-juice and apply on the affected area.
(b) Grind 10gms of basil leaves with a clove of garlic and apply the paste on the affected area daily for 10 days. It is also advised to chew 5 basil leaves every morning, afternoon, and evening or licking a mixture of basil juice and honey in addition to the local application.

Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.