Travel Insurance For Hepatitis Sufferers

Travel insurance for Hepatitis sufferers can be arranged by World First who are international travel insurance specialists. World First offer cheap holiday insurance for Hepatitis suffererers and annual travel insurance for UK residents with medical conditions who find it difficult to buy travel insurance with cover for Hepatitis and associated medical problems elsewhere. For more information about travel insurance for Hepatitis sufferers and a quote for your holiday insurance call World First for FREE on 0800 096 46 02.

Hepatitis means 'liver inflammation'. It is caused by a virus. Around half of all acute cases of hepatitis are due to a viral infection. Several kinds of hepatitis virus can infect the liver, but the most common are the hepatitis A and B viruses.

Hepatitis A is caught through the contamination of food and water with faeces (stools) through poor personal hygiene or sanitation.

Hepatitis B is spread through the exchange of blood and body fluids. It can be caught through unprotected sex, unsterilised needles, needlestick injury (accidental puncture of skin by a used needle), or contaminated blood products.

Hepatitis C is also spread through the exchange of blood or blood products. It is spread through sharing needles and needlestick accidents. It was spread by blood transfusions before September 1992, when screening for hepatitis C was brought in.

There are four other recognised hepatitis viruses, named from C to G. Hepatitis A and E cause only acute infection, while hepatitis B and C cause chronic (ongoing) illness. Hepatitis D is only present in people infected with hepatitis B. The glandular fever virus can also be a cause of hepatitis.

Vaccinations are available for hepatitis A and hepatitis B (singly or combined), and also as a combination of hepatitis A and typhoid.

Autoimmune hepatitis
Autoimmune hepatitis is a very rare cause for chronic hepatitis (long-term inflammation). The reasons are still unknown as to why the immune system that usually attacks any viruses, germs or bacteria, begins to attack the body, mistaking organs as one of these foreign bodies. In autoimmune hepatitis your white blood cells, called lymphocytes, attack your liver causing chronic inflammation and damage. This can then lead to more serious problems such as liver failure. Autoimmune hepatitis is very uncommon in the UK, with only 1 in 100,000 cases being diagnosed every year. About 7 in 10 cases are in women usually between the ages of 15-40. However, men tend to be more affected than women in older age groups.

Symptoms include:

• fatigue (tiredness),
• pains in your abdomen,
• joint aches (arthralgias),
• jaundice (yellow tinge to your skin and whites of your eyes),
• andcirrhosis (scarring to you liver).
  

See your GP immediately if you begin to show any of these symptoms so that tests can be carried out for an early diagnosis. Tests may include:

• liver function blood tests these measure the activity of chemicals in your liver to see whether it is inflamed and functioning as it should,
• antibody blood tests these help to distinguish autoimmune hepatitis from viral hepatitis, which is important to decide on treatment options,
• ultrasound scan this is not used to diagnose hepatitis but can help to see if the causes are due to liver cancer or cirrhosis,
• and biopsy (sample) of your liver this can help show the extent of the damage to your liver and the types of cells causing the inflammation.

Treatments for autoimmune hepatitis involve medicines that help suppress the immune system to reduce inflammation. Steroid medication (prednisolone) can gradually reduce your swelling over several weeks, and then be used to control your symptoms.

In some cases people do not show any symptoms of hepatitis A, this is particularly common in the case of young children.

However, the symptoms you need to be aware of are:

• flu-like symptoms, such as tiredness, general aches and pains, headaches and fever,
• loss of appetite,
• nausea or vomiting, and diarrhoea,
• abdominal pains, and jaundice, which occurs because your inflamed liver is unable to remove bilirubin a substance in the blood that causes your skin and the whites of your eyes to become yellow.

It may also turn your urine very dark and your stools (faeces) may become pale. Jaundice can also cause itching.The length and severity of hepatitis A varies. You may experience flu-like symptoms for a week with the jaundice gradually improving. You may feel tired for a little longer (a month or two). You are likely to have completely recovered within a couple of months, although a small amount of people may have relapses and symptoms may persist for up to 6 months.

Once your have recovered from hepatitis A you are then immune from it and can never catch the virus again.

Source:
NHS Direct Online. © Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen’s Printer for Scotland.