Hepatitis: complications and consequences, how to avoid?

Hepatitis is a group of inflammatory liver pathologies that have an acute or chronic course. They can occur due to adverse external factors, exposure to microorganisms, and other diseases. The viral form of the disease is one of the most common. Every year the number of victims of pathology is growing. How dangerous is it? The article describes the consequences of hepatitis, complications of the disease, its types and symptoms.

Forms of pathology

Ailment can be triggered by many reasons. Depending on the factors that contribute to its development, experts distinguish the following types:

1. Pathology caused by pathogens. Today, several types of pathogens are known. Depending on which virus provoked the pathology, the course of hepatitis, complications and their severity will be different.
2. Disease caused by excessive drinking. Ethanol is detrimental to all organs, including the liver. Frequent drinking leads to inflammation. Liver cells change structure. As a result of this process, the body cannot normally carry out its functions.
3. Medicines
   
   Some drugs are quite toxic. They have a harmful effect on the liver. Such drugs include microbial agents and pills that eliminate inflammation. After completing the course of medication, the malaise disappears, the work of the liver returns to normal.
4. Stagnation in the gallbladder.

With hepatitis, complications depend on the cause that provoked the pathology, on the features of its course and the general condition of the patient.

Viral diseases

This category is diverse. It includes several types of ailments. Inflammatory liver pathologies caused by viruses fall into the following categories:

1. Type A. This form is common. However, it does not pose a serious threat to health. The latent period of type A hepatitis lasts from 7 to 60 days. A person can become infected through food, unwashed hands, when using the personal belongings of an infected person. Against the background of adequate therapy, the symptoms of the disease go away on their own after a few weeks. In some cases, patients require droppers to remove toxic substances. With this form of hepatitis, complications in children and young people are rare. In older people, an ailment can lead to severe malfunctioning of the liver and even death.
2. Type B. The virus that causes this pathology enters the body through the blood in case of intimate contact, when injected with infected syringes. The disease is quite dangerous, it is accompanied by extremely unpleasant symptoms. A patient with this disease needs help in a hospital setting.
3. Type C. This form often provokes complications. Of viral hepatitis, this is the hardest variety. The disease leads to malignant tumors and the development of cirrhosis. Infection occurs with blood transfusion, intimacy and the use of an infected syringe.
4. Type D. This is a rather rare form due to exposure to several types of pathogens.
5. Hepatitis E. In its symptoms, this ailment is similar to type A pathology. It usually does not cause serious consequences. However, for expectant mothers the disease is quite dangerous.

Signs of inflammatory liver pathologies

Symptoms are determined by the form and type of pathogen that provokes the disease.

However, there are general manifestations characteristic of any type of hepatitis. Sometimes inflammation is easy. It does not cause pronounced symptoms. But the danger of this nature of the disease lies in the fact that in the absence of diagnosis and therapy, it can transform into a chronic form. There are situations when the infection is accompanied by severe manifestations. The patient has severe intoxication, impaired functioning of various organs and systems. Regardless of whether the pathology is acute or chronic, it gives about the same symptoms:

1. The yellow color of the skin, eye proteins. In some patients, this symptom is absent.
2. Dark color of urine and a light shade of stool.
3. Feeling itchy. Scarlet spots appear on the surface of the skin.
4. Slow heart rate.
5. An increase in the volume of the liver and spleen.

Complications of acute viral hepatitis depend on the type of pathogen, the general condition and age category of the patient, the presence or absence of timely diagnosis and therapy.

Type B pathology

The ailment is quite common. Transmission is carried out not only by injection and intimacy, but also from mother to fetus. In some patients, the pathology has a sluggish character. For others, it is developing rapidly. What complications of hepatitis B can occur? This is, first of all, malignant neoplasm of the liver or cirrhosis. Also, some patients develop an acute violation of the organ's activity, often leading to death.

Characteristic symptoms

Type B pathologies are characterized by such signs:

1. Heat.
2. Sensation of weakness, loss of strength, constant fatigue.
3. Joint discomfort.
4. Dizziness.
5. Loss of appetite, diarrhea, bouts of nausea, and vomiting.
6. Bitter taste in the oral cavity.
7. Itching, red spots on the surface of the skin, resembling hives.
8. Discomfort under the right rib.
9. An increase in liver volume.
10. The outflow of blood from the gums, nose.
    
11. Discoloration of the stool and urine, a yellow tint of the skin.

There are three main options for the pathology. The first is called spicy. It is characterized by the appearance of a yellow shade of the epidermis, a constant feeling of weakness, a sensation of itching of the skin. This condition can last from six to eight weeks. In this case, the symptoms of intoxication will be mild. With the second type of ailment, the patient's skin does not acquire a yellow color. However, other signs of liver inflammation are still observed. The third type is hidden, and it is detected only in the process of performing a laboratory blood test. Usually patients with a similar disease become individuals from 20 to 49 years. In hepatitis B, complications are especially dangerous for people at risk. These are babies and the elderly.

Acute violation of the liver

This complication is characteristic of the fulminant form of the disease. Fortunately, it is quite rare. With the development of pathology, during the first 14 days after yellowing of the skin in a person, disorders of the functions of the organ arise, which quickly progress. Type E viral hepatitis in expectant mothers also provokes disorders of the urinary system. In addition, these effects are observed in individuals with concomitant chronic liver ailments. With hepatitis B, complications of this kind in adult individuals are unlikely.

Viral inflammation of the liver during gestation

An acute form of pathology poses a threat to the future baby. The fact is that against the background of intoxication, an abortion can occur. The risk of termination of the fetus is determined by the severity of the course of the disease. If the expectant mother suffers from a chronic form of viral inflammation of the liver, she still has a high probability of giving birth to a healthy baby. In the case when a woman has type B hepatitis, the baby is given the first vaccine against this pathology immediately after birth.

Signs of disease progression

It is known that the consequence of viral inflammation of the liver can be cirrhosis, a tumor, or the formation of scar tissue in place of a healthy one (this condition is called fibrosis). How to determine that a patient with hepatitis has already begun to develop complications? There are several alarming symptoms, for example:

1. Pronounced yellowness of the epidermis, mucous membranes, eye proteins, which persists for a long time.
   
2. Bruising on the skin that occurs for no apparent reason.
3. An increase in the volume of small vessels on the surface of the face and body.
4. Scarlet coloring of palms and feet.
5. White spots on the nail plates.
6. An increase in the volume of the abdomen, thighs and breasts in men.
7. Disorders of a sexual nature, disruptions in the menstrual cycle, inability to conceive.
8. The outflow of blood from the nasal cavity and mouth, rectum.
9. The accumulation of fluid in the peritoneum.
10. An increase in the volume of the spleen.
11. Dilation of blood vessels around the navel.

With hepatitis, complications of this kind can lead to the death of the patient from acute inflammation of the peritoneum or bleeding from the digestive tract.

Inflammation of the liver associated with cholecystitis

This ailment can have both acute and chronic course. Often, the pathology of the gallbladder develops due to the formation of calculi. Stones fall into the ducts and interfere with their normal activity. This process requires immediate medical attention, as it can lead to the development of acute inflammation of the peritoneum. Sometimes the patient has a chronic pathology of the gallbladder, not associated with the formation of calculi. Her symptoms are mild. But due to adverse factors, the disease can worsen. A common complication among patients with cholecystitis is reactive hepatitis. It manifests itself as a feeling of heaviness and discomfort under the rib on the right, loss of appetite, weakness, diarrhea, bouts of vomiting, discoloration of the stool and urine, sleep disturbance, yellowing of the epidermis.

Toxin inflammation of the liver

The organ in question performs the function of neutralizing toxic substances. However, sometimes the concentration of hazardous compounds in the human body is too high. In this case, the liver is not able to carry out its activities in full. There is inflammation, which is associated with the death of organ cells. An acute type of pathology develops approximately five days after a large amount of a hazardous substance enters the human body.

The factors that provoke the ailment include:

1. Uncontrolled intake of strong medications (antibiotics, anti-seizure drugs and tuberculosis).
2. Industrial toxins (arsenic, phosphorus, components that make up the oil, weed and insect control products).
3. Alcohol-containing products (with excessive consumption and drinking of low-quality alcohol).
4. Plants that contain toxic substances. This is, for example, a godson, mustard, mushrooms (pale grebe, false honey agaric, fly agaric).
   

Damage to the liver by harmful compounds is manifested by unpleasant sensations under the rib on the right, bouts of vomiting, high fever, a feeling of weakness, and bleeding from the gums and nasal cavity. Some patients have a yellow color of the skin, a change in the shade of urine and stool, trembling of the limbs, agitation. Complications of toxic hepatitis are organ dysfunction, swelling, disorders of the central nervous system and blood vessels, coma, cirrhosis.

Viral inflammation of the liver in children

Juvenile patients are most often victims of type A pathology.

Usually, infection occurs due to non-compliance with hygiene standards. This ailment, as a rule, goes away without consequences. After about a month, with adequate treatment, recovery occurs. This hepatitis in children rarely gives complications. However, pathologies of type B and C require constant monitoring and therapy. After all, their consequence may be cirrhosis or death of the patient.

How to avoid infection? The main method of protection

An effective way of prevention is a vaccine. A vaccine was developed for types of pathology A and B. The first is done at the request of the patient.

The second is put in several stages and allows you to maintain the body's resistance for about 20 years. Complications after hepatitis B vaccination are rare. They can manifest in the form of individual intolerance, inflammation of blood vessels or membranes of the brain, hypotension.

Other prevention methods

To protect yourself from the effects of viruses, you must follow the rules of hygiene, do not do manicures and tattoos in dubious salons, avoid unprotected intimate contact with unfamiliar people, injections with reusable syringes. It is necessary to limit contact with a patient suffering from an acute form of pathology, not to use his personal belongings, hygiene items and utensils. In chronic hepatitis, complications are dangerous. Therefore, patients need to be regularly observed by a doctor and undergo therapy.