[What to do?] How to deal with more than 80 million infected people and high-risk factors for cancer? !

Mr. Li (pseudonym), who is over 60 years old, was diagnosed with hepatitis B when he was young, but he never took it seriously. In his most recent physical examination, Mr. Li, who always thought he was in good health, was found to have a liver mass...

The danger of being ignored

"Doctor, how come I suddenly got liver cancer? I had no symptoms before!" Uncle Li was very confused.

Gastroenterologist Rong Yamei analyzed that because Mr. Li had a history of hepatitis B for more than 20 years and had not received standardized treatment, the hepatitis B virus continued to attack the liver, gradually developing into cirrhosis and liver cancer. Because the liver lacks pain nerves and is not sensitive to pain, once symptoms appear, it is often in the middle or late stages.

Hepatitis and liver cancer

Currently, there are approximately 70 million cases of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and 10 million cases of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in my country.

As a high-risk factor for cirrhosis and liver cancer, chronic hepatitis has become a major problem affecting public health in my country.

Hepatitis is closely related to the development of liver cancer. Currently, about 80% of patients with primary liver cancer and cirrhosis found in clinical practice have hepatitis B!

Depending on whether the person is infected with a virus, hepatitis can be divided into two categories: viral hepatitis and non-viral hepatitis (autoimmune, alcoholic, non-alcoholic fatty hepatitis, drug-induced hepatitis, etc.). Non-viral hepatitis is generally not contagious.

The hepatitis we talk about in daily life usually refers to viral hepatitis, which is highly contagious. Currently, it is divided into five types: A, B, C, D, and E.

Acute hepatitis has a rapid onset and patients may experience symptoms such as fever, general fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain in the liver area, and jaundice.

The symptoms of chronic hepatitis are not typical. Some patients in the early stage may not have any symptoms or just feel tired. Late stage patients may develop cirrhosis, liver cancer and have serious complications such as upper gastrointestinal bleeding and ascites.

To fight hepatitis, we start from the source

There are two main ways of transmission of viral hepatitis: fecal-oral transmission and body fluid transmission.

- Refuse to eat and drink

Hepatitis A and hepatitis E can be transmitted through the digestive tract. In daily life, we should pay attention to food hygiene, wash hands after defecation, do not drink raw water, do not eat raw or undercooked meat and seafood, etc., to reduce the chance of infection with hepatitis A and hepatitis E.

- "Cut off" the transmission chain

To prevent hepatitis B and hepatitis C, effective measures need to be taken to cut off their transmission routes: do not come into contact with patients' blood, body fluids, and blood products of unknown origin; avoid mixing personal items such as razors and nail clippers; do not have unclean sexual relations with others; stay away from drugs, etc.

Hepatitis D is a relatively "special" type of hepatitis. It must rely on the hepatitis B virus to replicate and survive. Patients are often infected with hepatitis D virus on the basis of hepatitis B infection. In addition, vaccination with hepatitis B vaccine is the most effective measure to prevent hepatitis B virus infection.

- Correctly face the problem and seek medical treatment promptly

You don’t have to be scared when you hear that you are infected with viral hepatitis! First of all, not all hepatitis will eventually turn into liver cancer. Some patients are lifelong carriers but will not develop cancer.

Secondly, as long as you go to the hospital to receive regular antiviral treatment in the early stage of discovery, you can effectively curb the development of the virus and thus prevent the occurrence of cirrhosis or even liver cancer.