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Category Archives: Hepatitis B Diagnosis & Monitoring

Hepatitis B Diagnosis & Monitoring, Hepatitis B Prevention, Living with Hepatitis B

Show Your Support for World Hepatitis Day!

World Hepatitis Day is Thursday, July 28th!  Join the World Hepatitis Alliance.  The theme is “This is Hepatitis”, which is aimed at raising global awareness.  Globally, two billion people have been infected with hepatitis B, (one out of three), and 400 million live with a chronic, lifelong infection.  Although there are excellent treatments available, there is no cure for hepatitis B.  However, there is a safe and effective HBV vaccine.  If you are infected, be sure loved ones and household contacts are screened and vaccinated.  If you are not infected or not vaccinated, get vaccinated and help eliminate the spread of this virus, worldwide.

Show your support by adding a World Hepatitis Day PicBadge to your facebook and twitter profile pictures.  This makes a great visual statement.  You can also add the widget to your website or blog.  Take a look at HBF’s website, and note the slider at the top with “World Hepatitis Day”.  Check out the details on how to add the World Hepatitis Day PicBadge to your profiles and website.  Select the “add to profile picture” button.  Follow the instructions and the badge will be added to your FB and/or twitter profile pics.  (FYI.. I use hootsuite to manage my tweets, and it wasn’t initially obvious that it picked it up, but it worked fine. )  Check out HBFs FB and twitter profile pics to get an idea of how it looks.  Once you make the modifications, the PicBadge program will post the badge to your wall and tweet an invite to others to join with their support.  You can also have picbadge send a request to FB friends so they may lend their support.

On a personal note, consider sharing your story on the World Hepatitis Alliance’s “Wall of Stories”  Please feel free to share your story in your native language.  The more personal the stories, the better!

Be sure to let us know what you or your organization is up to for World Hepatitis Day!  No contribution is too small in the fight against viral hepatitis!

Hepatitis B Diagnosis & Monitoring, Hepatitis B Treatment, Living with Hepatitis B

Got Hepatitis B? Share Your Favorite Liver Specialist with the HBV Community

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Do you have a favorite liver specialist that you’d like to share with the Hepatitis B Foundation and friends living with HBV?  Friends with HBV live all over the globe, and we are interested in liver specialists with Hepatitis B treating experience from all over.  Pediatric patients are a special sub-population with special treating needs, too.  We’d love to hear from all of you!  Here’s what we’re looking for…

The Hepatitis B Foundation maintains a database of liver specialists that have experience treating patients with HBV.  Based on your recommendations, we would love to extend an invitation to your liver specialist to participate in our directory of liver specialists.  If your liver specialist replies, we will add his/her name to the list.

We’ve had some wonderful, new HBV friends on facebook from Africa and other continents, and we would encourage all of you to send us your liver specialist’s contact information.  Our international database is a little sparse, so we really need your input!  This would also include parents of children with HBV that are living abroad.  So, if you’ve got experience with a treating specialist that you’d like to share, you can be sure others will benefit from your advice.

Here is what the Hepatitis B Foundation needs to know:

  • Residing country
  • Adult or pediatric specialist
  • Liver specialist’s name and contact information  – including name, address, telephone number and email address (if available)
  • Anything else you’d like to share!

Email this important information to directory@hepb.org .  Please keep in mind that the information you provide is offered as a courtesy to others in the HBV community.  Your name will not be associated, and the addition of your physician does not make you responsible in any way.  This is not a physician referral service, but rather an opportunity for those living with HBV to share resources.  (Please note the disclaimer.)

Thanks to all who participate.  The entire HBV community benefits from your input!

 

Hepatitis B Advocacy, Hepatitis B Diagnosis & Monitoring, Hepatitis B Prevention

Gearing up for World Hepatitis Day!

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World Hepatitis Day is July 28th!  What are you doing to raise awareness and educate others about hepatitis B?  I asked this on HBF’s facebook page, and a friend from Ghana wondered what he could do to help raise awareness.  Another friend replied about his concern with HBV in Malawi.

When you consider the scope of hepatitis B, globally, it is indeed sobering.  Statistically, two billion people have been infected with hepatitis B worldwide, and 400 million are chronically infected.  Don’t let these numbers discourage you from your efforts.

When I returned from China in 2003, my heart was heavy with the burden the Chinese people experience on a day-to-day basis, living with HBV.  At the time I was providing infectious disease training for specific groups of Chinese people, but of course in the scheme of things, the outreach effort seemed minimal when compared to the burden.  I had to focus my efforts one-person-at-a-time.  I couldn’t let the sheer numbers discourage me from my mission to educate and raise HBV awareness at any level.

If you have the money or the connections to do something in a big way, that is wonderful.  Then many will benefit from your contribution.  However, I think it is important to note that hepatitis B education and awareness is fundamentally carried out at a grassroots level, where small numbers of individuals band together to make a difference.   Organizations like the Hepatitis B Foundation are crucial due to their ability to reach out and impact larger numbers of people through research, outreach, education and increased HBV awareness.  Utilize their website, social media channels and outreach to gain and share educational information, and help raise awareness.

So what can you do as an individual?  First thing you need to do is get educated on viral hepatitis.  There is much confusion among people about how HBV is transmitted.  If you mention hepatitis B, someone will invariably say, “oh yes.  My uncle got that from eating contaminated food!”  Well, he did get NOT hepatitis B from food!  Know the ABC’s of viral hepatitis, and eliminate these myths.  Hepatitis B is not spread casually, or by sharing a meal, hugging or kissing someone with hep B.  However, HBV is non-discriminating, and we are all vulnerable if we are not vaccinated.

Learn the facts about HBV.  Know some of the statistics, and how it is transmitted.  Know the difference between an acute infection vs. a chronic infection.  Know that 90% of adults will clear an acute infection, while 90% of infants infected will surely live with hepB for life.  Be sure safe injection and medical practices are followed in health care settings.

To raise awareness and eliminate confusion, you don’t have to know the details of surface antigens, antibodies or how to interpret blood test results.  You can look that up on HBF’s website!   This detailed info comes with time.  Start with the hep B basics.  If you are educated, you can educate others.

Learn about the HBV vaccination.  Know that if you are in a high risk group, you should be screened before you are vaccinated.  The vaccine doesn’t work if you already have hepB!  If you are not infected, then get vaccinated.  Let everyone know why vaccination is necessary.  Encourage pregnant women to be screened for HBV.  Ninety percent of  mother-to-child transmission of HBV can be eliminated by ensuring an infant receives a birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, followed by the other two shots in the series.  If HBIG is available to newborns of infected mothers, that is even better.

Many believe that hepatitis B will not affect them because they may not have symptoms. They do not realize HBV is a silent epidemic.  They may not realize the importance of their non-complaining liver, and how HBV can destroy it over time.

If you or loved ones have HBV, be sure you are vaccinated for Hepatitis A.  Take care of your liver and abstain from alcohol and tobacco use.  Eat a healthy diet, and practice safe sex.  Practice standard precautions.  Use common sense!

Now for the outreach part… Depending on your hep B status, you might be reluctant to share your new found information with everyone.  Start with your family, friends and household contacts.  They may not understand the global significance of HBV.  It’s okay to start small.

If you’re ready to increase your effort, then reach out to your church, and your community.  Join with others and participate in local city or village health center and community awareness events.  Join an HBV support group, and if you’re interested, create a language specific group for your country.  Volunteer, speak out, and help educate the masses of people who are unaware that HBV is truly a silent epidemic.

Together we can make a difference!

Hepatitis B Diagnosis & Monitoring, Living with Hepatitis B

Mosquito Repellent and Hepatitis B

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Summer has arrived and so have your annoying neighborhood mosquitoes, who show up uninvited to every party.  Everyone’s first impulse is to spray on the DEET, an effective, insect repellent, to keep them away.

If you have hepatitis B, and are working hard to “love your liver”, you might be wondering what affect DEET will have on your liver.   Your liver is an amazing organ responsible for filtering just about everything we inhale, ingest or absorb through the skin.  DEET is an effective, but strong chemical, that when applied to the skin, or accidentally inhaled while spraying, or ingested due to poor hand washing, may be found in the blood stream up to 12 hours later.  It’s your liver’s job to ensure this toxin is filtered from your system.   An over-taxed liver can be problematic for anyone, but placing additional burdens on your liver when you have HBV can contribute to liver damage over time.

Here are a couple of things to consider.  Mosquitoes and other flying, or biting insects are vectors for numerous diseases that can make us very sick.   (Please keep in mind that mosquitoes are NOT vectors for hepatitis B.)  As a result we have to consider other options, or weigh the risks vs. the benefits of spraying on a dose of DEET.  If you do decide that DEET is the best protection against mosquitoes, consider limiting your exposure by applying it to your clothing, rather than directly to the skin.  When you’re back inside and out of mosquito territory, wash it off.  Don’t wear it to bed.

A natural alternative to chemically produced repellents is citronella, which has been registered for use in the U.S. since 1948.  It is made by steam distillation of certain grasses, and is considered a biopesticide, a naturally occurring substance that controls by non-toxic means.

Citronella can be purchased in various outdoor candles and natural, registered products such as Burt’s Bee’s Herbal Insect Repellent, or Avon Skin So Soft.  Citronella and other remedies can be purchased as essential oils and applied to the skin.  Please remember that natural does not equate to safe.  Make sure directions-for-use are legitimate and followed explicitly.  These oils are dangerous when ingested, and they are not packaged in child-resistant containers to avoid accidental swallowing.  Be sure to research all natural remedies or chemical products, and ensure the directions-for-use are legitimate, and that they are stored out of reach of children.  In researching this blog, I ran across various factoids and instructions-for-use with natural remedies that were contradicted in other articles.

Here are some additional tips that may require a little more forethought, and may not be as effective as a chemical repellent.  However, they can provide some relief and perhaps a balance.  Recommendations include:

  • Wear light colored clothing.  Mosquitoes are attracted to dark clothing.
  • Cover as much skin as possible with clothing… long sleeves, pants, socks, hats, etc.
  • Consider the fragrances you wear.  Floral or fruity fragrances, scented soaps, perfumes, hair products, scented sunscreen and even fragrance from fabric softeners and dryer sheets attract mosquitoes.  In my house, nothing smells clean and fresh.  Everything is unscented.
  • Avoid being out when mosquitoes are most active – dawn and dusk.
  • Use external fans.  Mosquitoes don’t fly well in a stiff breeze!
  • Avoid areas with standing water.
  • Eat garlic…lots of it.  My pharmacist is Indian, and also prescribes natural remedies.  She told me garlic is often consumed in massive quantities to discourage mosquitoes.
  • Bats are your friends…   I grew up with two medium-sized, but stagnant ponds on our property.  We had lots of bats and no mosquitoes.

As always, it’s all about common sense and balance.  If you’re having a picnic at the Dismal Swamp, or traveling to countries where the risk of disease carrying mosquitoes is very high, then you might want to think about bringing along the can of DEET, and using it responsibly.  Perhaps an outing here or there may also warrant the use.  Otherwise, make an attempt to combat mosquitoes naturally, or make a concerted effort to avoid them at their worst.  Yet another way to incorporate “loving your liver” into your daily life!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hepatitis B Diagnosis & Monitoring, Living with Hepatitis B

Choosing a Liver Specialist to Treat Your HBV

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Got HepB?  Which doctor is right for you?  Do you need a hepatologist, gastroenterologist (GI doctor), or an infectious disease doctor?  Is the patient an adult or child?  If you’re new to HBV, these specialty doctors are likely foreign to your doctor line-up, and weeding through the specialty titles and training can be confusing.   However, if you have HBV, it’s essential that you find a knowledgeable liver specialist to monitor and potentially treat your hepatitis B.

A hepatologist is a doctor that specializes in diseases associated with the liver.  Hepatology is a sub-specialty of gastroenterology.  This is an obvious choice for patients with HBV, but it may be difficult to find a hepatologist in your vicinity.

A gastroenterologist, or GI doctor, specializes in the function and disorders of the GI tract, which includes the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, intestines and the liver.  This covers a very broad spectrum of functions and diseases.  The key is to find a GI doctor that has experience treating patients with liver disease – specifically, viral hepatitis, and hepatitis B.  If your GI candidate spends much of his week performing endoscopies, he is likely not a good choice for a liver specialist.

Because hepatitis B is an infectious disease, it would seem logical that an infectious disease specialist would be the best choice.  However, this is not usually the case with hepatitis B, or viral hepatitis, but rather HIV and other infectious diseases.  Your best bet will most likely be a hepatologist or a GI doctor.

If the patient is a child, it is imperative that the child see a pediatric liver specialist.  Some of the best and brightest, cutting edge doctors are both pediatric hepatologists and GI docs.  Children with HBV are monitored and treated much differently than adults.  The labs look different, and the treatment protocols also differ.  You need a pediatric specialist.

Ultimately, the key is finding a liver specialist that has experience monitoring and treating patients with hepatitis B.  You need to ask the important questions.   How many patients are they currently monitoring and treating with hep B?  How is your doctor keeping abreast of the latest and greatest advances in the management of hepatitis B?  Does she attend conferences on viral hepatitis?

HBV is a chronic disease, so you are potentially entering into a long term relationship.  Be sure to ask questions that are important to YOU.  How are test results disseminated?  Are frequent visits required?  Is your doctor open minded – perhaps willing to consult with other experts treating patients with HBV?  It would be great if this specialist is affiliated with a large hospital or university center.  This may provide additional options such as clinical trials, should they become available.  Plus they tend to have a larger patient population, hence more case specific experience.

Typically, the need to visit your liver specialist is not that frequent, unless you are undergoing treatment.  Even then, much of the monitoring and follow-up are in the blood work, and much of that can be drawn locally, with the results sent to your liver specialist.  Some treatment protocols require more monitoring and blood work than others, but even so, it is typically for a short period of time.  This fact is significant, as it expands the size of your geographic circle of potential experts.

The Hepatitis B Foundation maintains a wonderful database of liver specialists for both adults and children.  From there you can check out your potential expert with members of HBV support groups that may have personal experience with your candidate.

Good luck choosing your liver specialist!

Hepatitis B Diagnosis & Monitoring, Hepatitis B Prevention

Why Vaccinate Infants Against Hepatitis B?

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Sadly, out of all age groups, it is infants and very young children that are at the greatest risk for acquiring a chronic, life-long infection with hepatitis B.  In fact 90% of babies exposed to HBV will become chronically infected, and will live with the virus for the rest of their lives.  This includes mother-to-child transmission, and horizontal transmission from close contacts.  This is why the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine is recommended before leaving the hospital.  The vaccine is safe and effective.  Choosing to vaccinate is an option those of us with HBV infected children would have LOVED to have.

Hepatitis B is a silent disease.  Forty percent of people living with HBV have no idea how they became infected.  Others have not yet been diagnosed.   Many likely acquired it at birth, or early exposure, and have had the virus smoldering for decades.  They may find out about it in routine blood tests, or from the Red Cross following a blood donation.  Hepatitis B is non-discriminating, although it is more prevalent in certain high risk groups.   Sometimes being part of a high risk group is as simple as having a parent born in a country where HBV is endemic.  Hepatitis B is 100 times more infectious than HIV, and yet many people say they would get vaccinated against HIV if a vaccine existed.  Why not hepatitis B?

So why have your infant vaccinated at birth?  It just makes sense.  How can you be assured all house-hold contacts are not infected?  War heroes get infected, as do health care workers, and other loving family members – mommies, daddies, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Parents go to work, and little ones go to day care.  They play at the neighbor’s house or with friends at pre-school.  Blood spills occur and sometimes they’re not properly managed, or even noticed.   Boo-boo’s come uncovered and little friends touch.  Sometimes “love-bites” are exchanged much to the dismay of parents.  Even the most vigilant parent is going to miss something.   HBV is not transmitted casually, but the possibility of exposure cannot be denied – especially at such a young age.

Hepatitis B is a poster-child for infant vaccination.  It is a tenacious virus, and there is no true cure.  If you are a pregnant woman, be sure you are tested for hepatitis B during your pregnancy.  If you are HBV positive, break the cycle .  One in five at-risk babies in the U.S. may NOT be receiving the necessary treatment, so SPEAK UP and ensure your baby receives prophylaxis treatment at birth.  Complete the vaccine series and have your baby tested for HBV at his one-year checkup to ensure he is protected.

If you are not HBV positive give yourself piece-of-mind.  When your baby is born, be sure to have her vaccinated before you leave the hospital, and give her a lifetime of protection against hepatitis B.

Hepatitis B Diagnosis & Monitoring, Living with Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B and Chocolate

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Planning on digging into your favorite dark-chocolate stash, or biting the ears off of a dark-chocolate bunny this weekend?  Dark chocolate is popping up everywhere.  Even some old favorites have a new, dark chocolate wrapper, replacing the now-passé milk chocolate.  Recently, studies have extolled the benefits of dark chocolate, and how it potentially prevents heart disease, reduces the risk of brain damage after a stroke, lowers the risk of heart failure, lowers blood pressure, reduces heart disease, has anti-cancer benefits, slows dementia, raises libido, and last but not least, is mood enhancing.  What about those suffering hepatitis B associated liver disease?

Last year there was a study out of Spain that investigated the benefits of dark chocolate to patients with liver disease – specifically patients with cirrhosis.  Cirrhosis causes portal pressure to rise, potentially resulting in damage to blood vessels in the liver.  Eating causes an additional rise in pressure, which becomes more dangerous as liver disease progresses.  Half of the study participants were given white chocolate, and the other dark chocolate.  The dark chocolate group saw a larger decrease in the blood pressure of the liver, and increased blood flow.  Keep in mind that this was a small study with only 21 participants.

The good news is that dark chocolate, specifically the cocoa component, is rich in antioxidants called flavonoids, and other beneficial components such as  phenylethylamine, theobromine,  anandamide, magnesium, copper, and vitamins E and B.  That’s certainly a mouth-full, but it is these key components that provide all the benefits of chocolate.

Here’s the bad news.  Many of us enjoy milk chocolate, or even the dreaded white chocolate, which has little or no benefit due to the processing of the cocoa, and the resulting loss of flavonoids.   In fact, the lighter the chocolate, the fewer the benefits.  In a perfect world we would be eating unsweetened, cocoa powder right out of the tin, or a chocolate bar with upwards of 85% cocoa.  That can be a pretty biting chocolate.  The chocolate many of us enjoy has a larger quantity of white sugar , which is not beneficial to the liver, or any other organ, nor is the additional butterfat, which is added to lighter chocolate.  However, if you can adjust your tastes a little and learn to adapt to less sugar and butterfat, dark chocolate is great addition to your diet.

Aren’t most of us looking for an excuse to add chocolate to our diets?  Ultimately, all things in moderation is the key.  A small amount (roughly 6.7 grams) of dark chocolate added to your daily diet is certainly not going to hurt you, and may in fact reduce abdominal pressure and portal pressure in the liver.  Perhaps the greatest redeeming quality of chocolate is it’s mood enhancing qualities.  If it feels good, and eaten in moderation, then why not reap the benefits of dark chocolate and enjoy your improved mood.

Hepatitis B Diagnosis & Monitoring

Do You Have Hepatitis B?

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Have you been told you may be infected with  hepatitis B?  Did you get a letter following a blood donation, or receive lab results indicating infection?  It’s important you relax, educate yourself, and don’t let the news scare you.  The next step is to determine if you are infected, and if so, do you have an acute or chronic infection.

You’ll want to talk with your doctor, and have a hepatitis B blood panel run.  It is essential that you do not ignore the possibility of infection.  That being said, it’s equally important that you not panic.

When you get your lab results, ask your doctor to explain them to you.  It’s possible that you are not infected, but if you are, then you will need follow-up testing.  Be sure to ask for copies of your labs for your own records.  The test results are initially confusing, so you will want to refer back to the hard-copy results.

It is important to determine if you have an acute or chronic infection, but this may take some time.  If you were infected with HBV as an adult, there is a good chance you are acutely infected.  Fortunately, 90% of infected adults resolve the virus on their own. Recently infected adults may have flu-like symptoms, fatigue, yellowing of the eyes, or they may have no symptoms at all.  The answer is in the lab work.  Your doctor may run an HBc-IgM test, which will tell you if the infection is newly acquired. If it is a new infection, you will be monitored for the next one to six months to see if the HBV infection clears, and to ensure you are safe.  During this time, you are infectious to others, so it is important to practice standard precautions and ensure household members are vaccinated.  It is important to eat properly, rest, and avoid alcohol and tobacco. Talk to your doctor about the use of prescription and OTC drugs.  Hopefully your body will be able to mount an appropriate immune response, and you will be able to rid yourself of the virus.  If you remain surface antigen positive (HBsAg+) for more than six months you will be considered chronically infected.

Ten percent of those infected with HBV as an adult, will not clear the virus, and will become chronically infected.  Another group of adults that may just be learning of their Hepatitis B status, are those that acquired HBV at birth.  HBV infected mothers may unknowingly transmit HBV to babies.  Transmission can be prevented with vaccination at birth, but in many countries where HBV is endemic, a cycle of HBV transmission may exist where vaccination has not been available, and the virus is passed unknowingly from one generation to the next. Unfortunately, 90% of those infected at birth are chronically infected, even though it may not be determined until adulthood.  HBV is usually an uncomplaining disease, so it may be picked up accidently with blood-work , or when liver disease progresses due to decades of chronic infection.

Keep in mind that being vaccinated against hepatitis B will not protect you against the virus if you were infected with HBV prior to vaccination.  This can be confusing since most people are not screened prior to vaccination, and is  especially pertinent in high risk groups where the likelihood of mother to child transmission is greater.

The Hepatitis B Foundation has a step-by-step, comprehensive, yet-easy-to-understand tutorial that leads you through the process of determining your hepatitis B status, specific test results, and practical advice for coping with your HBV diagnosis.

Hepatitis B Diagnosis & Monitoring, Hepatitis B Prevention, Living with Hepatitis B

Got Hepatitis B? B Sure to Take Care of U!

As a mother of a child with hepatitis B, I was always concerned my child would transmit the virus to others.  One day a toddler came up and bit her in the finger and drew blood.  She was strapped into her stroller, and yet I felt guilty and fearful she might transmit the virus to “the biter”.  I rushed my child to the pediatrician, and immediately inquired about the safety of the other toddler.  He reminded me that that “blood is a two-way street for the transmission of infectious diseases”.   I should worry about MY child.   The other child was likely vaccinated since HBV vaccination is required in my state. I heeded his advice, and from that day forth I started thinking about the safety of MY child and others infected with HBV.

Fortunately, hepatitis B is a vaccine preventable disease, so that does ease concerns regarding the transmission of HBV to others.  A simple three shot HBV vaccine series does the trick.  There is no reason someone should NOT be protected against a vaccine preventable virus that is 100 times more infectious than HIV!   Stop feeling guilty, and start thinking about protecting YOU!

If you have HBV, Hepatitis A (HAV) can be very dangerous.   HAV is vaccine preventable.  A simple two shot series will keep all those with or without HBV safe from highly-contagious HAV.

Unfortunately, there is no vaccine for HCV or HIV.  If you are HBV+, a  co-infection is complicated and dangerous, and can result in significant liver damage.  The best way to combat infection from HCV, HIV and other infectious diseases is to use standard precautions.

Make standard precautions part of your everyday life.  Simple hand washing and proper avoidance of contact with someone else’s blood and body fluids is an easy way to avoid transmission of potentially life threatening illnesses, or any illness.  Cover open cuts with a Band-Aid.  Provide a barrier between someone else’s blood or body fluids, and any open wounds, sores, mucus membranes and orifices.  You don’t want to get infected with another blood borne pathogen!  Does this mean you need to look like someone out of a bio-hazard lab with goggles and gloves?  No!  Use common sense, and you can be safe without going overboard.   A simple barrier between you and someone else’s body fluids is the best way to avoid exposure.  Keep something like a clean diaper, towel or wrapped sanitary pad, in a plastic baggie, in your car, and on each level of your home.

Personal toiletries should be just that…personal.  Keep your toothbrush away from your sibling, friend or SO. Neatly dispose of used feminine hygiene products because it’s the right thing to do.  Don’t leave your razor or nail clippers lying around.  Sharp, personal objects really are a perfect transmission route for infectious disease.

Got HBV?  Remember, keep YOURSELF safe!  And the kid in the stroller… well she’s a teen, today.  Now there’s a whole new set of worries.

Baruch S. Blumberg Institute