Hepatitis Treatment

What is Hepatitis Treatment?

Hepatic failure can be acute or chronic, and is a life-threatening condition where liver function is impaired. The liver is the body’s largest organ and works with the pancreas and intestines to digest, absorb, and process food. It also produces bile that is used to digest fats, as well as detoxes the blood by filtering out drugs and alcohol.

Acute liver failure happens when liver function is lost over a short period of time. Chronic liver failure, on the other hand, develops more slowly over months or even years before it produces any noticeable symptoms. The liver fails progressively due to the occurence of scar tissue in the liver called liver cirrhosis, a condition that prevents the liver from functioning properly.

How do we treat Hepatitis A?

There is no specific treatment for hepatitis A but there are treatment measures that help improve your condition:

• Avoid drinking alcohol
• Get plenty of rest
• Increase your fluid intake
• Practise good personal hygiene to prevent faecal-oral transmission to other individuals
• Take prescribed medication if your symptoms worsen

How do we treat Hepatitis B?

Treatment of hepatitis B depends on the symptoms and stage of your disease and includes:

• Anti-viral medication to stop the virus from replicating
• Medication to ease symptoms

How do we treat Hepatitis C?

Treatment of hepatitis C aims to delay its complications, and these include:

• Anti-viral medication to stop the virus from replicating
• Avoid drinking alcohol as it can increase the liver damage
• Regular screening for liver cancer for hepatitis C carriers, especially those who have liver cirrhosis (scarring of the liver)