Hepatitis

By: Noah Ehrlich

The Liver
• The liver is the largest gland in the
body.
• It helps clean the blood from
toxins.
• It stores glycogen. Glycogen is a
whole bunch of glucose stuck
together.
• The liver also makes bile which
helps you digest food.
• It makes proteins that are
important for blood clotting.
Hepatitis
• Hepatitis is inflammation of the
liver.
• Hepatitis can be caused by both
infectious and non-infectious
causes.
• Infectious causes include viral,
bacterial, fungal, and parasitic.
• Non-infectious causes include
alcohol, drugs, autoimmune
diseases, and metabolic diseases.
What does Hepatitis do?
• When the tissues of the liver are inflamed for a long time, it causes
scarring of the liver.
• Scarring of the liver means that the liver tissue gets replaced by fibrous tissue
which can’t do the job that the liver tissue could.
• The abnormal tissue in the liver makes it harder for blood to flow through the
liver. This will eventually damage nearby organs like the spleen and stomach.
Signs and symptoms
• At first some patients may not have symptoms but their blood tests
may show some abnormalities.
• Early symptoms may include; loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting,
changes in taste, joint pains, fatigue, rashes, and itching.
• Later symptoms may include; dark urine, pale poop, jaundice (yellow
colored skin), and abdominal pain and swelling.
Treatment
• Treat symptoms individually (medicine for vomiting, fluids for
dehydration, clotting factors for bleeding).
• In severe cases, you may need a liver transplant.
• For hepatitis B and C, interferon treatments can be used.
• Chronic hepatitis C can now be cured 90% of the time with direct
acting antiviral drugs such as Harvoni. The fact that you can cure it
prevents liver cancer and possible transplant.
How to avoid hepatitis
• There are vaccines against hepatitis A and B.
• Don’t do alcohol or drugs.
• Wash your hands before every meal.