Pathophysiology: Hepatitis A Virus

Describe the clinical presentation (signs and symptoms) of viral hepatitis. List the different underlying causes of this condition.

This research paper is going to review today’s silent killer, the Hepatitis C virus. This paper will talk about the description of the disease, the signs and symptoms, the etiology and risk factors, diagnostic studies, treatments and prognosis of this disease. I had lived with this disease for over ten years before diagnosed so it is important to understand the signs and symptoms so the disease can be identified and a treatment plan can be identified as the sooner it is treated the more likely it will eradicate the disease.

Hepatitis is bloodborne and is present in all body fluids of the infected person. Hepatitis unlike HIV can live on the outside surface of the skin for a long period of time. There are three types of hepatitis which are hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Hepatitis B is the hardest to kill on the surface. Make sure to disinfect all surfaces with a hospital grade disinfectant. (sounds plagerised)

In the presented case scenario, we have Mr. Gil Martin who is a 55-year-old Hispanic male. He comes in to the clinic today with complaints of weakness, fatigue, and loss of appetite. A student nurse will be precepting your assessment of Mr. Martin and when collecting subjective and objective data it is important to pay close detail to all findings. Ultimately this patient was diagnosis with cirrhosis, which is an abnormal liver condition that leads to irreversible scarring of the liver (National Institute of Health [NIH], 2017), so during assessment we should pay attention to details leading to this diagnosis.

What is Hepatitis B?-Hepatitis B is a liver infection caused by HBV or the hepatitis B virus. Most people who have Hepatitis B usually have what’s called an acute infection meaning that it will only last for a short period of time (usually a couple days or weeks). This virus can be chronic for some people which means that it can last longer than six months. (6)

Hepatitis A is a liver infection caused by the Hepatitis A virus (HAV). Hepatitis A is highly contagious. It is usually transmitted by the fecal-oral route, either by person-to-person contact or consumption of contaminated food or water. Moreover, Hepatitis A is a self-limited disease that does not result in chronic infection. More than 80% of adults with Hepatitis A have symptoms but the majority of children does not have symptoms or have an

Hepatitis A is a highly contagious infection. The infection affects mostly the liver and internal organs. Hepatitis A is caused by a virus. You can get this virus by eating or drinking food contaminated by fecal matter. Symptoms do not normally appear until after you have contracted the virus for a few weeks. People most at risk for contracting this virus are children, laboratory workers, and people who have liver problems.

See a doctor right away if you or a child in your care has symptoms of hepatitis A.

Hepatitis is defined as inflammation of the liver. The word hepatitis is broken down into hepat- which means “liver” and -itis which means “inflammation.” This inflammation is caused by a virus, and in the case of hepatitis, there can be 5 different inflammation-causing viruses. These viruses are categorized as: A, B, C, D, and E. Hepatitis A and E are typically caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water, while Hepatitis B, C, and D usually occur as a result of contact with infected body fluids. In the case of Hepatitis C (HCV), it is spread primarily through contact with infected blood. The infections can occur by sharing needles or other equipment to inject drugs, needlestick injuries in healthcare settings, or being born to a mother who has Hepatitis C. Less commonly, a person can also get an HCV infection through sharing personal care items such as razors or toothbrushes. Even less commonly, sexual contact with an infected person can transmit HCV, but this is

Hepatitis C is an infection of the liver caused by the virus called Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). Hepatitis C can be acute and chronic, it is an asymptomatic disease, but a chronic infection can be life threatening and cause serious health complications in the future and eventually death. Many are unaware of this infection; the life threatening health risk involves liver damage, end- stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma and even death. It 's been estimated that in the United States 2.7 million people are infected with chronic HCV, whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 3.2 million (Ditah, 2010). The infected population are primarily in their fifties and sixties, born between 1945 and 1965. One attributable cause is believed to be the transmission of the contaminated blood through organ transplants and drug injections. It is expected that compensated cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) will increase by over 80 percent from the year 2000 to the year 2020. Over the same period, it is estimated that decompensated cirrhosis would increase over 100 percent and that liver-related deaths would increase by 181 percent (Davis GL, Albright JE, 2003).

Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by the Hepatitis A virus. It may cause fever, malaise, anorexia, nausea, and abdominal discomfort, followed within a few days by jaundice the disease ranges in clinical severity from a mild illness lasting 1–2 weeks to a severely disabling disease lasting several months. Good personal hygiene and proper sanitation can help prevent Hepatitis A. Transmission may occur by direct person-to-person contact; or from contaminated water, ice, or shellfish from contaminated water; or from fruits, vegetables, or other foods that are eaten uncooked, but which may become contaminated during handling. Hepatitis A can affect anyone

HCV infection is characterized by its propensity to evolve into chronicity and by a wide clinical spectrum. About 85% of patients infected by HCV will develop chronic infection and resolution of acute hepatitis C is observed in only 15% (Palitzsch et al., 1999). The severity of the liver disease varies widely from asymptomatic chronic infection, with normal liver tests and nearly normal liver, to severe chronic hepatitis, leading rapidly to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The mechanisms responsible for the persistence of HCV infection and for the liver lesions are not well understood. The lack of an efficient in vitro replication system or an animal model (the chimpanzee model is limited) has greatly hampered the study of these mechanisms

There is no specific treatment for viral Hepatitis. Bed rest and preferably hospitalization is a necessary step in the early treatment. Even though Hepatitis A is a highly contagious virus, isolation of the patient to a single room is not necessary. However, proper prevention methods such as washing your hand after handling the patient, careful handling of the body fluids and feces and wearing gloves when drawing blood is important.

Agent - HBV - virus able to cause disease. HBV is a small, double-shelled virus from the family Hepadnaviridae. It is relatively resilient and, in some instances, has been shown that in room temperature continue to be infectious on environmental surfaces about seven days and remain transmissible. (CDC.gov).

During the course of many years, there have been a lot of diseases that caused significant effects on the people. Some of those diseases are Ebola, AIDS, plague, and small pox. But I bet you didn’t know that Hepatitis is one of them. Hepatitis means injury to the liver with inflammation of the liver cells. In doing my research, I have found six different types of hepatitis. They are Hepatitis A, B, C, D, E, and G. All of these end up causing disease except for Hepatitis G, which just lives in the blood and does not cause the person who is infected to show signs of any illness. Hepatitis A, B, and C are the most common ones and are usually the only ones that people know anything about.