Ways Of Hepatitis Diagnostication

Q: When it is necessary to make examination after unprotected sex?

A: It is necessary to undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 10 days after having unprotected sex. Antibodies test will give information only in 1-3 months.

Q: Is it possible to get recovered more rapidly if PCR detected virus in blood immediately after infection?

A: Test will show if you are infected or not, and also will help your partner to vaccinate. However, for the treatment is not so important when diagnosis was made – in several days or weeks after infection. It was proved that treatment delay even for a few months never aggravates the result but it is virulent to delay treatment more than one year.

Frequently, doctors choose waiting game when they meet hepatitis B. Acute hepatitis B in adults without immune deficiencies in 95% cases ends up with autorecovery. And acute hepatitis C in 60-85% cases becomes chronic.

Q: How to know from test results whether treatment is needed or not?

A: Any type of hepatitis reqiures treatment if liver damage is significant. Biochemical test and biopsy, which detects fibrosis (when liver cells are replaced with connective tissue), will show it. In hepatitis B are taken into account viral loads – the more virus is in blood, the more probability is for the disease to progress.

When viral load is low and bioorganics indicators are normal, you may live in security and once a year undergo examination. Remember that in this period you may infect people around you via blood or sexual intercource that is why your relatives should vaccinate. The effectiveness of vaccination is 98%.

Q: What are the treatments for chronic hepatitis?

A: Hepatitis C may be treated with interferon alfa and ribavirin. Hepatitis B may be ctreated with interferon alfa or nucleoside analogues that are build into virus structure preventing it from reproduction. However, small persentage of patients get recovered from hepatitis B. Stopping virus reproduction helps to reduce significantly probability of complications.

Q: Are there any false-positive test results for hepatitis?

A: Yes, only in case of mistakes in the laboratory. In order to avoid such results, in good laboratories is made additionally check analysis.

Hepatitis Glossary

Antibodies are protective proteins which produce our immune cells in reply to contacting with virus antigenes.

Antigens are particles of the virus.

Viral hepatitis is hepatitis caused by a viral infection.

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver tissue.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a high-strung test which allows to detect in the blood genetic material of the virus (its DNA or RNA). PCR detects virus in blood in 10 days after infection.

Viral load is the amount of virus in 1 ml of blood.

Additional examinations

1. Ultrasonic examination not detects hepatitis but at the stage of cirrhosis it shows first signs of changes. By the way, large liver mass is not a sign of hepatitis.
2. Genotyping is an examination of virus for the choice of treatment strategy. Different genotypes of virus C are treated with different effectiveness. Detecting of genotypes of virus B has no impact on the treatment effectiveness.
3. Liver biopsy detects the degree of inflammation. This is required when other analysis are not clear.

What Is Hepatitis?

A person may catch hepatitis and recover from it, not even knowing about it. A person may live with chronic form of hepatitis many years and discover it when the disease is on cirrhosis stage.

What viruses cause hepatitis?

Viruses A and E may cause acute hepatitis called “the disease of dirty hands” because people often get infection while traveling in the African and Asian countries. Viruses B, C, D may be agents of chronic hepatitis. Those viruses are transmitted via blood or during unprotected sex. In some cases chronic viral hepatitis after 10-30 years may lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer.

What are hepatitis symptoms?Acute hepatitis has the same symptoms as simple cold with food infection symptoms। In case yellow plague is not developed, people often recover successfully without knowing what disease they had। So acute hepatitis C in 95% of cases is unnoticed and hepatitis B is unnoticed in 70%. The main symptom showing chronic form of disease is constant fatigue.

Who and when should make tests for hepatitis?
# patients with chronic kidney failure who are on hemodialysis
# persons after operations and endoscopic procedures
# spouses and children of persons with hepatitis
# if the blood biochemical test shows liver damage
# drug addicts
# after unprotected sexual intercourse
# after making tattoo, piercing, manicure or pedicure in salon
# after visiting countries with high prevalence of hepatitis: South-East Asia, Central Africa

What tests should be made at the first suspicion?

To detect hepatitis, biochemical test of blood is made. This test is cheap, informative and available in most laboratories. The most important indicators for the diagnosis of hepatitis is the level of enzymes SPGT (alanine aminotransferase) and ACT (aspartate aminotransferase). In case they are out of normal level then it means the patient has hepatitis. Then the next step is to go to gastroenterologist and infectiologist that do specialize on hepatitis.

How to check for hepatitis B and C?

The most rational way is to do a blood test on the most important markers of chronic hepatitis B and C. In case were found HbsAg (membrane antigen of B virus) and antibodies to to hepatitis C virus, you should go to the doctor. He will say if it is necessary or not to make other tests to detect virus antigens. Such profound examinations are made in special laboratories. You may at once make blood test for RNA and DNA of viruses B and C. If they will be detected then you should anyway make antigen and antibodies test in order to find the best treatment.