Transmission of Hepatitis and its management – Dr. Nagaraj B. Puttaswamy

Hepatitis is an infective condition. There are different types of hepatitis. Hepatitis A, B, C. It is a little difficult for the common man to understand. There are two modes of transmission of Hepatitis A, B, C. One is feco -oral transmission. If one has Hepatitis A, their fecal matter contains or carries these viruses of Hepatitis A. If one is an outdoor defecator, they have high possibility of contaminating the field or the water which drains into some feeding areas, then they could contaminate people who drink that water. Or if an infected person doesn’t maintain good hygiene, or if he works in a hotel as a cook or chef or severs people, they can contaminate to people who eat food. Hepatitis B and c are infective hepatitis. They are transmitted following sexually transmitted disease, following blood transfusion which is infected, getting shaven with infected blade, which is not seen now because they use disposable blades nowadays. These are the modes of transmission. Hepatitis A, B, C are medically managed diseases. None of them require surgical intervention at all. Many at times Hepatitis A is self-limiting. Patient may be managed by bland diet, hydrate them well, high carbohydrate diet, protein diet, patient gradually recovers because it is a viral infection. Hepatitis B patient may be highly infected, may get into a fulminant infective state, patient may get into a sick state called pre hepatic coma, a difficult condition to manage. So manage in advance by giving antiviral. These patients carry these viruses for a relatively longer time in the blood .So they become carriers for years togethter. So they can transmit to people who are in close contact with them. That is if a patient is HbsAg positive can induce into a surgeon who is operating or a nurse or a staff who is treating the patient. There is no surgical intervention for any sort of hepatitis.