What You Can Do to Reduce the Risk of Getting Hepatitis

15 November 2010

A doctor attends to a hepatitis patient in a special isolation area at a hospital in Ahmadabad, India.

STEVE EMBER: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. This week, we will tell about six diseases of the liver. The diseases come from six different viruses. Doctors have one name for all of them: hepatitis.

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STEVE EMBER: The liver is in the upper right part of the stomach. This dark, red organ is big. It weighs more than one kilogram. And, it has a big job. The liver helps clean the blood and fight infection. It also helps break down food and store energy until the body needs it.

Hepatitis destroys liver cells. Some kinds of hepatitis are much more serious than others. Which kind a person has can only be known from tests for antibodies in the blood.

Antibodies are special proteins that the body's natural defenses against disease produce in answer to a threat. Identify the antibody and you identify the threat.

BARBARA KLEIN: Hepatitis A is usually spread through human waste in water or food. It is in the same group of viruses as those that cause the disease polio.

The hepatitis A virus causes high body temperature, pain and weakness. It causes problems with the stomach and intestines, making it difficult to eat or break down food. Also, the skin of a person with hepatitis may become yellow. This is a sign that the liver is not operating normally.