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Show Spreading Viral Infections By HAROLD B. LIGON.M.D. The past few articles have been general discussions of viral diseases-and we've so far confined our talk to human-to-human spread viral infections-of infections-of which there are many! We've commented on the ex-anthems ex-anthems like measles, airborne air-borne viruses causing flu. and enteric or intestinal viruses causing polio, intestinal flu, and others. THE MOST important of the remaining human-to-human virus diseases are hepatitis A and hepatitis B. These two viral vir-al diseases are inflammatory conditions of the liver, and they were formerly called infectious in-fectious hepatitis and serum hepatitis, respectively. (Remember (Re-member now, there are other causes of hepatitis, but our discussion dis-cussion is confined generally to viral hepatitis). The liver is one of the major organs of the body, and an inflammatory in-flammatory process involving this organ can be a very serious clinical situation! It can result in fatal consequences. HEPATITIS A is less serious se-rious and is generally spread by water and food borne contacts; con-tacts; fecal-oral contact; and just plain person-to-person contact! There are blood tests that can suggest hepatitis A (and differentiate between A and B). Our discussion today mainly points out the difference between be-tween the origin of hepatitis A and B. While hepatitis A is mainly spread by contact as described above, hepatitis B is usually transmitted by needleseither nee-dleseither by transfusions in sophisticated intensive care units and conscientious hospital hos-pital personnel, or drug abusers abus-ers w ho pass a needle from one to another injecting drug "slugs" under contaminated or primitive conditions. ALSO, RENAL dialysis personnel per-sonnel are particularly prone to contact with hepatitis B and these dialysis centers are increasing continuously in numbers. Sexual activity can transmit both A and B but most often. A. Mortality to both hepatitis A and B can be as high as 10 to 15 percent. PUBLIC HEALTH measures mea-sures and avoidance of the disease dis-ease are the best therapeutic ammunition but most recently recent-ly there's new hope in a very effective vaccine for hepatitis B the more serious! If you're feeling bad, feverish, fever-ish, nauseated and vomiting and if you look in the mirror and see a yellow face with yellow yel-low eyes looking back you may have the terrible little hepatitis virus! |