Without severe pain, no high fever, even many years without symptoms, hepatitis B is likened to a "silent killer". While patients still live normally, the virus can silently cause inflammation, fibrosis and destroy the liver. When jaundice, ascites, gastrointestinal bleeding or liver failure appear, the disease is usually in a late stage.
The gap in awareness makes many people arbitrarily stop treatment, skip re-examination or do not screen for relatives, increasing the risk of complications and infection in the family.
Twenty years of subjectivity, in exchange for severe cirrhosis
About 20 years ago, a 53-year-old man was diagnosed with hepatitis B and treated with antiviral drugs. Seeing his health stable, he voluntarily stopped taking medicine and did not re-examine.
Two decades later, when he was prolongedly tired, anorexic and had a tight stomach due to fluid retention, he returned to Bach Mai Hospital. The results showed that the patient had severe cirrhosis, ascites, esophageal varicose veins, abdominal fluid infection, exhaustion and had to have hemodialysis.
Not only that, for many years his wife and children have also never been fully tested or vaccinated. When screened, family members were all identified as infected with hepatitis B virus.
Both infected with the virus but two different outcomes
A family in Ninh Binh had two siblings infected with hepatitis B from their mother but had two completely opposite results.
The older brother detected the disease early, adhered to treatment and periodic check-ups. He also proactively took his wife for testing and vaccination when she was not immune, so her health was controlled stably, while his wife and children were not infected.
Conversely, the younger brother did not know he was carrying the virus for many years. Until he was 45 years old, when fatigue and jaundice appeared, he went for an examination. The results showed that not only he was sick but his wife and son were also infected with the virus.
Don't wait for jaundice to go for an examination.
According to Dr. Do Van Thanh, Deputy Director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Bach Mai Hospital, hepatitis B usually progresses very discreetly. Jaundice and yellow eyes are not mandatory signs. Many people only experience mild fatigue, poor appetite or complete lack of symptoms until the liver is severely damaged.
Patients cannot rely on feelings of health to assume that the virus is gone or the liver is no longer damaged. When ascites, gastrointestinal bleeding or exhaustion appear, the disease may be in a very late stage," Dr. Do Van Thanh warned.
According to experts, people with hepatitis B need to be assessed for liver function, HBV DNA quantification, level of fibrosis and risk of liver cancer as directed by a doctor. Self-medicating with antiviral drugs can cause the virus to become active again, making the disease progress faster, and even leading to drug resistance.
Hepatitis B is mainly transmitted through blood, sexual intercourse and from mother to child. Children infected with the virus immediately after birth are at very high risk of becoming chronic carriers if not properly prevented.
When a person is diagnosed with hepatitis B, the wife, husband, children and co-vivors need to be tested. People who are not infected and have no immunity need to be fully vaccinated, while those who are infected must be monitored and treated according to the doctor's instructions.
