Hepatitis Caused by Shisha
Shisha smoking had been existing over hundred year’s by now and most of this event is a social happenings. In ancient times, Shisha is the gathering of the rich and mighty. But today, people do a Shisha session because it is the getting together of the crowd who likes to have a social experience and at same time the enjoyment of the taste of Shisha. The people who participated in doing Shisha can be found in any age bracket which includes the teens, twenty-something, adults and the old ones. It is an event for all ages that you can find in some places with services offering Shisha.
So that, the effects and infectious diseases a Shisha session can cause is also limitless and boundless even to any human age bracket. Everyone can get infected with one careless and thoughtless act of having a Shisha. The unmindful taste of Shisha experience had a creeping secrets that can only be find out if you have one already.
There are five different types of viral hepatitis. Only Hepatitis A and B are the things that I am going to discuss here because they had the mode of transmission connected to using Shisha pipe.
What is Hepatitis?
Hepatitis is a condition defined by the inflammation of the liver. The condition can be self-limiting (healing on its own) or can progress to fibrosis (scarring) and cirrhosis (leading to loss of liver function). Hepatitis is can be caused by certain drugs, alcohol, toxins, autoimmune disorders or viral infections. A group of viruses known as the hepatitis viruses cause most cases of hepatitis worldwide. Viral hepatitis is a contagious disease. Viruses can be passed from person to person.
Hepatitis A is passed in the stool from a bowel movement. You could get hepatitis A by: touching an infected person’s stool (for example, changing an infected baby’s diaper), and then eating or drinking with your hands; eating food made by someone who touched infected stool, having anal sex with an infected person, kissing a person infected with hepatitis A.
Hepatitis B is spread by contact with an infected person’s blood, semen, or other body fluids. An infected woman can give hepatitis B to her baby at birth or through her breast milk. You can get hepatitis B by: having sex with an infected person without using a condom, sharing drug needles, having a tattoo or body piercing done with infected tools used on someone else, sharing a tooth brush or razor with an infected person, getting pricked with a needle that has infected blood on it (health care workers can get hepatitis B this way).
What are the symptoms of Hepatitis?
Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B can make you feel like you have the flu. Symptoms of Hepatitis A, if present, typically occur 2 to 4 weeks after infection. While Symptoms of Hepatitis B, if present, typically occur 3 months after infection Symptoms includes: feel extremely tired, have a stomach pain, have little or no desire to eat, have a fever, have diarrhea. Some people have: yellowish eyes and skin (jaundice), swollen abdomen (ascites), light-colored stools, dark yellow urine. Some people don’t have any symptoms. If you have symptoms, or think you might have symptoms, go to a doctor. The doctor will test your blood for hepatitis A or B.
Can Hepatitis cause permanent liver damage?
Hepatitis A cannot cause permanent liver damage. Hepatitis A does not cause chronic or recurrent infection. On the other hand, Hepatitis B, unlike hepatitis A, causes chronic or recurrent infection in 1 to 2 percent of infected persons. If hepatitis B is not cleared from your body by 6 months you could have a chronic infection. Chronic infection can be very mild in some people but may cause severe destruction of the liver (cirrhosis) or liver cancer in others.
What is the treatment for Hepatitis?
Hepatitis A and B has no specific treatment. Most people with hepatitis A get well after a few weeks; and people with Hepatitis B having symptoms most get well after 4 to 6 weeks. Several days or weeks of bed rest may be needed. Drinking alcohol should be avoided. Hepatitis A infected people must wash your hands thoroughly after using the toilet, must not handle or serve food to others. To the Hepatitis B infected people, the doctor will recheck blood tests at 3 months to see if the liver is healthy and if the body is clearing hepatitis B.
How is Hepatitis connected to Shisha?
Hepatitis A can be spread by kissing a person infected with hepatitis A. Hepatitis B is spread by contact with an infected person’s body fluids including saliva. Using one mouthpiece, with a friend or colleagues with asymptomatic Hepatitis (those people showing no symptoms of the disease) can spread the virus easily.
Prevention of Hepatitis when using Shisha
If you are not 100 percent sure of the Shisha provider’s accuracy in cleanliness and sanitation of the Shisha apparatus, think twice before engaging in the Shisha activity. Trust and camaraderie to friends are just that, but the infection of Hepatitis they can give you is a very different matter. Still the best prevention is not to try Shisha at all.
You need a healthy liver. The liver is a vital organ that removes drugs and poisons from your blood, stores energy for when you need it, makes vital proteins, helps digest fats, fights infection and stops bleeding.
The choice is still ours to make. Hepatitis is just one of the examples of the effects Shisha smoking can do to our body and there are a lot more. Make a choice to have the pleasure now, or pay the price later. It is all up to you. Open you minds and hearts for a clean living and healthy lifestyle.