{"id":4066,"date":"2025-11-16T04:01:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T20:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pah.lightflex.com.my\/?post_type=article&#038;p=4066"},"modified":"2025-12-14T23:40:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T15:40:42","slug":"protecting-yourself-against-hepatitis-b-infection","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pah.com.my\/id\/articles\/protecting-yourself-against-hepatitis-b-infection\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Yourself Against Hepatitis B Infection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2019<\/strong>, hepatitis B affects approximately&nbsp;296 million people, including over 6 million&nbsp;children under the age of 5. Hepatitis B contributes to an estimated 820,000 deaths every year. 25% of chronic hepatitis B infections progress to liver cancer. The Ministry of Health Malaysia reported HBV infections to have the highest incidence rate among&nbsp;vaccine-preventable diseases&nbsp;and ranked as the&nbsp;third leading cause of death&nbsp;in Malaysian public hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hepatitis B is a serious liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Hepatitis B infection may be either short-lived (acute) or long-lasting (chronic).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Acute hepatitis B&nbsp;<\/strong>infection&nbsp;lasts less than 6 months. Your immune system likely can clear acute hepatitis B from your body, and you should recover completely within a few months. Most people who get hepatitis B as adults have an acute infection, but it can lead to chronic infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chronic hepatitis B<\/strong>&nbsp;infection&nbsp;lasts 6 months or longer. It lingers because your immune system can&#8217;t fight off the infection. Chronic hepatitis B infection may last a lifetime, possibly leading to serious illnesses such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. The younger you are when you get hepatitis B, particularly newborns or children younger than 5 years old, the higher your risk of the infection becoming chronic. Chronic infection may go undetected for decades until a person becomes seriously ill from liver disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Causes:&nbsp;<\/strong>Hepatitis B infection is caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). The virus is passed from person to person through blood, semen or other body fluids. It does not spread by sneezing or coughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Common ways that&nbsp;HBV&nbsp;can spread:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sexual contact &#8211; if you have unprotected sex with someone who is infected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sharing of needles.&nbsp;HBV&nbsp;easily spreads through needles and syringes contaminated with infected blood. Sharing IV drug paraphernalia puts you at high risk of hepatitis B.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Accidental needle sticks,&nbsp; for health care workers and anyone who comes in contact with human blood.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mother to the child. Pregnant women infected with HBV can pass the virus to their babies during childbirth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Signs and symptoms<\/strong>&nbsp;of hepatitis B range from mild to severe. Some young children, may not have any symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commonly, abdominal pain, dark urine, fever, joint pain, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, weakness and fatigue and yellowing of your skin and the whites of your eyes (jaundice)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Complications<\/strong>&nbsp;:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scarring of the liver (cirrhosis)<strong>&nbsp; &#8211;<\/strong>&nbsp;the inflammation associated with a hepatitis B infection can lead to extensive liver scarring (cirrhosis), which may impair the liver&#8217;s ability to function.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Liver cancer<strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/strong>People with chronic hepatitis B infection have an increased risk of liver cancer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Liver failure &#8211;&nbsp;Acute liver failure is a condition in which the vital functions of the liver shut down. When that occurs, a liver transplant is necessary to sustain life.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>People with chronic hepatitis B may develop kidney disease or inflammation of blood vessels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Prevention:&nbsp; Get immunized against&nbsp;<\/strong>hepatitis B by hepatitis B vaccination. It is typically given as 3 injections over six months. The vaccine is safe and gives good protection against hepatitis infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pah.com.my\/storage\/photos\/shares\/Article%20-%20photos\/Protecting%20Yourself%20Against%20Hep-B\/Article%20Photos%20(1).jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is recommended for everyone, &nbsp;especially: newborns, people who live with someone who has hepatitis B, healthcare workers, emergency workers and other people who come into contact with blood, anyone who has a sexually transmitted infection, people with chronic liver disease, and people with end-stage kidney disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other ways to reduce your risk of&nbsp;HBV&nbsp;include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Know the&nbsp;HBV&nbsp;status of sexual partner<strong>.<\/strong>&nbsp;Don&#8217;t engage in unprotected sex unless you&#8217;re absolutely certain your partner isn&#8217;t infected with&nbsp;HBV&nbsp;or any other sexually transmitted infection.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Never share needles or any personal shaving items.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Get a hepatitis B vaccination before travelling, to a region where hepatitis B is common. Hepatitis B occurs in nearly every part of the world but is more common in some countries in Asia, Africa, South America and the Caribbean.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every year on July 28th, we celebrate World Hepatitis Day in honour of Dr Baruch Blumberg\u2019s birthday. Dr Blumberg discovered the hepatitis B virus in 1967 and subsequently developed the hepatitis B vaccine two years later in 1969.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We commemorate World Hepatitis Day by raising awareness about viral hepatitis. It is so important to bring awareness to this preventable and treatable disease.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4068,"template":"","format":"standard","tags":[280],"article-tag":[467],"class_list":["post-4066","articles","type-articles","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-prevention","article-tag-prevention"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Protecting Yourself Against Hepatitis B Infection - Penang Adventist Hospital<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pah.com.my\/id\/articles\/protecting-yourself-against-hepatitis-b-infection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"id_ID\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protecting Yourself Against Hepatitis B Infection - Penang Adventist Hospital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2019, hepatitis B affects approximately&nbsp;296 million people, including over 6 million&nbsp;children under the age of 5. 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