Q. What are the modes of transmission, main signs and symptoms and treatments of hepatitis B?
The Hepatitis B is a disease caused by a DNA virus. The transmission is by blood (transfusions, wounds, sexual relations, accidents with contaminated material, and so on.). The generally common form of the disease is chronic, the infected patient carries the virus for life and the liver gradually suffers injuries that can lead to cirrhosis or even to hepatic cancer. One more form of the disease is acute, sometimes fulminating, with symptoms similar to those of the hepatitis A but more severe and sometimes lethal and there are persons that are asymptomatic carriers of the virus and the level of hepatic injury is assessed by blood tests of hepatic enzymes and by hepatic biopsy (extraction of small samples of tissue to be examined under the microscope). Viral replication can be estimated through polymerase chain reaction (PCR).