World Hepatitis Day
- Jul 28
- 3 min read
World Hepatitis Day is a day of awareness to promote national and international efforts on hepatitis and highlight the need for a greater global response to try and eliminate it. July 28th was chosen to honour the birthday of Dr Baruch Blumberg, the Nobel-prize winning scientist, who discovered Hepatitis B virus in 1967 and developed the diagnostic test and vaccine for the virus. Viral hepatitis affects more than 300 million people worldwide and leads to more than 1 million deaths each year, and this continues to increase globally despite effective vaccines, medications, and prevention strategies.
Signs and Symptoms include:
Dark urine or clay-colored stools
Diarrhea
Feeling tired
Fever
Joint pain
Loss of appetite
Nausea, stomach pain, throwing up
Yellow skin or eyes (jaundice)
Hepatitis A
Liver disease caused by Hepatitis A virus (HAV)
Infection usually causes a mild, short-term illness
Contagious and spreads through close person-to-person contact and eating contaminated food or drink
Signs and Symptoms:
Vaccination is available and is the best way to prevent infection
Hepatitis B
Liver disease caused by the Hepatitis B virus (HBV).
HBV infection can be short (acute) or long-term (chronic).
About 1 in 2 people with hepatitis B do not know they are infected.
HBV is contagious and spreads through contact with infected blood and body fluids.
Certain life circumstances, jobs, and behaviuors can increase your risk ie. working in healthcare, unprotected sex
Vaccination is available and is the best way to prevent infection
Hepatitis C
Liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV).
Many people with hepatitis C don't look or feel sick so might not know they have the virus.
Left untreated, hepatitis C can lead to serious liver problems, like scarring and cancer.
Transmission is from blood to blood
No vaccine is available
Best way to prevent infection is to avoid behaviours that can spread the virus such as sharing or reusing needles or other personal items that could come into contact with blood
Hepatitis C can be passed from parent to child during pregnancy or childbirth, but that is rare
Sexual transmission of hepatitis C is rare, but increases with certain factors such as condomless anal sex, HIV, sexually transmitted infections, sex where blood is present, group sex and chemsex.
Treatment is available and cures over 95% of people with Hepatitis C
Treatment comes in pill form, has few side effects, and is usually taken for 8 or 12 weeks.
Getting cured of hepatitis C ensures it can no longer injure your liver, helping to prevent liver failure and lowering your chances of getting liver cancer.
You can get hepatitis C again after you are cured if the virus gets into your blood.
You will need to be treated again if your body does not clear the virus on its own.
Hepatitis D
An infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis D virus (HDV).
Only people with hepatitis B can contract HDV.
Hepatitis B vaccination provides protection against hepatitis B and, therefore, against hepatitis D.
People with hepatitis D show severe symptoms of the disease.
Uncommon in the United States/Canada
Hepatitis E
A liver infection caused by the hepatitis E virus (HEV).
Hepatitis E is common in many parts of the world where sanitation is poor.
Most people recover fully from hepatitis E without any complications.
Hepatitis E can only be diagnosed with laboratory tests.
No vaccine is available
Best way to prevent infection is to only drink purified water when visiting countries where Hepatitis E is common and by avoiding raw or undercooked pork, venison, and wild boar meat
For more information visit:
CDC - Viral Hepatitis Awareness:
Canadian Viral Hepatitis Elimination Day - May 9th: https://www.actionhepatitiscanada.ca/canhepday.html
CATIE- Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange - HIV and Hep C Information:
Canadian Liver Foundation:
See your doctor or nurse practitioner if further questions about symptoms, screening, prevention/immunizations or treatment!
