Hepatitis B is a viral disease caused by a virus termed as HBV or Hepatitis B Virus. It is spread through the exchange of fluids present in the human body like semen, blood, etc. It spreads like an infection in the liver and is quite harmful to the body. While the vaccine for preventing this disease has been found, there are still many viral infection cases.

In some cases, the disease becomes chronic; i.e., it lasts for more than half a year or six months. In such cases, HBV damages the liver quite seriously, which can lead to total liver failure. The virus can cause liver cancer or cirrhosis and can make the liver non-functional for the patient’s entire life. However, many times, the disease is stopped early, so most patients are saved via treatment.

How HBV spreads:

The presence of HBV is bad news. The symptoms of the disease could be quite apparent, or they might not be visible at all; either way, it is compulsory that:

• The person who has had unprotected sexual intercourse should get a checkup if they have developed any unwanted disorder in the body.
• The person who has undergone a blood transfusion procedure should get a checkup. This is done to ensure that the blood that was put in the body was pure and didn’t carry any HBV.
• Also, if a person injected any foreign material into his bloodstream directly, he or she should immediately get it checked. This is because it could be that the injected material could contain any virus, which includes HBV.

Symptoms of the presence of HBV:

The study says that symptoms appear, if at all, around two weeks to 4 months of the presence of HBV in the body. However, it is possible you get symptoms later or don’t get any symptoms. Little boys and girls don’t even get any symptoms. Some symptoms which are common in most of the people who encounter the virus are:

• Dark urine
• Joint pain
• Occasional fever
• Abdomen pain
• Weakness and fatigue
• Vomiting and a feeling of nausea

Also, in many cases, it has been seen that the presence of the HBV virus in the body causes jaundice to the patient. These are some of the symptoms of the disease.

Hepatitis B Treatments:

There are many Hepatitis B medicines that a medical practitioner might prescribe. The hepatitis B vaccine is given as a series of 3 injections over six months. It eliminates the risk of acquiring the disease. The HBV vaccines are quite important in certain conditions like:

• If the person’s partner has the disease.
• If the person is addicted to injecting illegal roadside drugs.
• If a person keeps on having intercourse regularly with different partners.
• If a person has had sexual intercourse with someone whose HBV status wasn’t known.
• If the person is traveling to a place where the disease is quite common.
• If the person is homosexual.
• If the person has some chronic liver disease.