The liver is likened to the largest "chemical factory" of the body, undertaking many important functions such as metabolism, detoxification and energy storage. However, this is also an organ that rarely feels pain, so liver damage often progresses silently.
According to Dr. Luc Duc Van, Head of the Department of Gastroenterology, Chengdu No. 1 People's Hospital (China), when mentioning hepatitis, most people think of viral hepatitis, including types A, B, C, D and E. Among them, hepatitis B is the most common type of disease, with high transmission and seriously affecting health.
In addition, along with lifestyle changes, the rate of non-viral hepatitis such as fatty hepatitis and alcoholic hepatitis is also trending upwards.
Experts say hepatitis can originate from many causes such as viruses, alcohol, beer, drugs, tobacco, autoimmune diseases, fatty liver, infections, parasites, congenital metabolic disorders or systemic diseases affecting the liver.
In the early stages, patients often do not have obvious symptoms. Some common symptoms include loss of appetite, fear of greasy food, bloating, fatigue, reduced health and reduced appetite. When the disease progresses severely, patients may vomit blood, have black stools or coma due to liver failure.
According to Dr. Hua Hieu Mai, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Chengdu No. 5 People's Hospital (China), the liver is a "silent organ" because very few receptors sense pain. Therefore, many people do not have symptoms, so they think they are healthy, while liver damage still silently progresses.
When obvious signs appear, the disease usually has entered a late stage, reducing the effectiveness of treatment.
Seeing that the disease is better, they voluntarily stop taking the medicine. This is a fairly common mistake in people with hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
According to Dr. Thinh Cat Phuong, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Hospital No. 1 under Zhejiang University (China), every year the hospital receives many cases of severe hepatitis B recurrence due to patients voluntarily stopping antiviral drugs, leading to liver failure.
Meanwhile, with hepatitis C, after about two weeks of treatment, the amount of virus in the blood can drop to a very low level. This makes some people mistakenly believe that the disease has recovered and voluntarily stop taking medication, increasing the risk of drug resistance and treatment failure.
People with hepatitis are not allowed to eat at the same table. Experts affirm that this is a wrong concept.
Hepatitis A and E are mainly transmitted through the digestive tract (fecal - oral), while hepatitis B and C are transmitted through blood, sexual intercourse, from mother to child or through damaged skin and mucous membranes.
Activities such as shaking hands, hugging, eating together, sharing dining tables or normal communication do not transmit hepatitis B or C. The hepatitis D virus can only survive when the patient has been infected with hepatitis B.
Disease prevention is still the most important solution. Experts emphasize that prevention is still the most effective measure to reduce the burden caused by hepatitis.
