PLEASE NOTE - The information given below is intended solely for reference use only and is in no way intended to be used as an alternative for seeking proper medical advice. If you think you may have contracted a sexually transmitted infection after reading the information provided it is vital you seek the opinion of a qualified doctor at your local sexual health clinic as a matter of urgency. Failure to do so can seriously affect your long-term health in some circumstances.
To reduce the need for repetition in this article the term gay is being used to identify any man who has sex with other men regardless of how they identify themselves sexually.
Many different sources of reference have been used to compile the information on sexually transmitted infections and the information is correct at time of writing.
What is hepatitis?
The word hepatitis means inflammation of the liver hepa meaning ‘liver’ and titis meaning ‘inflammation of’. When talking about sexually transmitted infections we will be looking at 2 forms of hepatitis (A and B )
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is the least serious of all the hepatitis viruses that cause this condition.
How do I get Hepatitis A?
The virus is very infectious and is found in faeces (poo) and can easily be passed on to someone during some sexual activities especially if you have sex which involves a person’s anus (bottom). It is important to remember that it does not have to be transmitted sexually and can easily be picked up from eating food prepared or handled by someone with the infection who has not washed their hands after going to the toilet and before touching your food. It is very easy to pick up in some countries with lower standards of hygiene than us if the drinking water or food has been contaminated with human faeces.
What are the symptoms?
Up to 50% of people infected with the hepatitis A virus don’t know they have it as they show no symptoms but can still pass it on to others. If you do have symptoms they will appear 2-6 weeks after contracting the virus and you may experience a mild flu-like illness which can make you feel very tired as well as have aching joints.
However, some people have more severe symptoms and can become very ill with rapid weight loss, dark coloured urine and a change in the colour of their faeces to very pale. The skin may become itchy and the whites of the eyes turn yellow. This is called being jaundice and is a sign that there is a serious problem with your liver. Your liver could be having difficulties doing its normal function of cleaning the blood of poisonous toxins so they are building up in the skin therefore changing its colour, this happens especially where a substance called bile, which is a greenish/yellowish liquid used to help digest your food, is not being removed by the liver. The illness usually lasts around 1-3 weeks during which time your body will clear itself of the virus and you should make a full recovery but this can take several weeks or months to achieve and it may be a long-time before your energy levels return to normal.
Once the infection is gone from your body you can not infect other people as you are not a carrier. Nor can you be re-infected as you will have built up immunity to the virus, but it will not stop you from getting any of the other hepatitis viruses as they are all slightly different, so the immune system will not recognise any of the other forms unless you have already had them.
What is the treatment?
There is no specific treatment because in most cases your own body’s immune system will destroy it but if you already have liver problems there are separate treatments to deal with this issue. Whilst you are unwell you need to drink lots of fluids, avoid fatty foods and alcohol in order to give your liver a rest and allow it time to try to remove the virus from your system.
In some cases as many as 1 in 5 people ( 20% ) will need to go in to hospital for treatment because the virus has damaged the liver but most people are OK if they look after themselves.
Who do I tell?
You need to tell all your sexual partners during the 2 weeks before you began to show any symptoms of the illness. It is during the first 2 weeks you are most infectious and so easily passing the virus on to other people, as the body has not had time to mount an attack on the virus yet, so lots of virus will have been excreted in your faeces. Partners can be treated to stop them getting the infection though to try to establish whom you got it from may be very difficult to do.
How do I prevent it?
You can be vaccinated against the virus through your GP (if they offer this service) or at the GUM clinic next time you go for a health screen, just ask. A single injection offers protection for a year or you can have 2 injections 6 months apart that offers full protection for about 10 years.
Before vaccination, a blood test may be carried out to see if you have already had the virus and so don’t need the injection, as you are already immune to the virus and can’t get it again. If you have not been vaccinated against the virus yet you should avoid coming into contact with any faeces during sex and you should use a condom if having anal sex or some other form of latex barrier if you are going to use your tongue near the other persons anus (bottom) and remember to wash your hands after removing the condom.
Hepatitis B
What is Hepatitis B?
This is another one of the many viruses that can cause hepatitis or inflammation of the liver.
How do I get it?
Hepatitis B virus is found in the body fluids including blood, cum (semen) and pre-cum (the clear fluid you get at the tip of the penis when you have an erection and is passed on when the body fluids of an infected person enters the blood stream of an uninfected person through a break in the skin or the mucus membrane as found in the mouth, penis or rectum (bottom). It is passed on most often through unprotected anal or oral sex (sex without a condom).
It is very infectious – 100 times more infectious than the HIV virus. You can also catch it from using someone else’s needles if you inject drugs, razors used for shaving or toothbrushes etc as the virus can live a very long time outside the body and even live in dry blood which can then enter your bloodstream when using these items.
The virus has also been found in saliva (spit) and so can be passed on through long periods of deep kissing (French kissing where each other use there tongues a lot during the kiss) as a large amount of saliva is passed from one person the other during this type of kissing. Also, if you have any small cuts in the mouth or any ulcers then the virus can enter your bloodstream.
What are the symptoms of Hepatitis B?
You may not get any symptoms as most people who contract the virus don’t and are unaware they are infected and are obviously at high risk of passing it on to their sexual partners. If you do get any of the following signs from between 6 weeks and 6 months of having any high-risk sex then it is vital you get it checked.
Things to look out for are any flu-like symptoms such as aching joints, fever, feeling sick (nausea), actual vomiting or weight loss for no reason when not on a diet and feeling very tired for no reason. In some cases you may see a change in the colour of your faeces (poo, stool), which may become very pale in colour or your urine may become very dark in colour and not the normal yellow / straw colour you would expect.
Also the whites of the eyes and the skin may turn yellowish in colour which will be noticeable to other people, this is called being jaundice and is an indication that your liver is not able to remove waste products from the blood as it is being over worked at the moment due to the hepatitis virus.
However, it is not as frightening as it sounds and in the vast majority of cases the infected person is able to clear the virus from their system within a few weeks and the symptoms will slowly disappear during that time. About 1 person in every 10 infected with the virus ( 10% ) fails to clear the virus completely from their system and it remains in the body which means that person then becomes known as a “carrier” for the virus and can still pass it on to other people.
This is why it is important if you do have any of the symptoms to get a blood test done to see if it is the hepatitis virus causing the symptoms and to see if you have cleared it or if you are a carrier. If you are a carrier in future years you may go on to develop serious liver problems.
How is Hepatitis B diagnosed?
The most common way to detect for signs of the virus in your body is through very simple blood tests which can be carried out at the local GUM clinic. These tests will show if you have the virus now or if you ever had it in the past and are now a carrier or if you managed to rid your blood system of it.
The person doing the blood test will also test to see if your liver is working correctly or if it has been put under any kind of stress due to the infection and if it has, the test will show to what extent the liver has been affected. If you are one of the small number of people who become carriers of the virus you will need regular blood tests to see how well your liver is working, and to monitor it for any early signs of possible long-term damage.
How is Hepatitis B treated?
As for hepatitis A, in most cases the body will rid itself of the infection in time and so there is not really any specific treatment available. The best thing you can do once you have been confirmed as having the virus is to get plenty of rest. You should also try to be kind to your liver during this time by not putting any extra stress on it and making it work harder than it needs to by stopping all intake of alcohol (if you drink) and drugs, recreational as well as prescription, especially things like painkillers such as paracetamol (unless told to take them by your doctor) as they get broken down by the liver which will cause it to work harder.
Some people will become so unwell with the virus that they will need to be admitted into hospital where they can be looked after and anyone with the infection should expect full recovery to take around 6 months and possibly longer for your energy levels to return back to how you were before you had the virus so don’t expect the recovery to be quick or easy it will take time.
It is possible, although very rare, to die from this illness at this stage and it happens to around 1 person in every 100 or 1%. If you are found after blood tests to have become a carrier of the virus and have begun to develop liver problems, there are treatments available to help, such as antiviral drugs. They don’t cure the illness but will slow it down enough to allow time for the immune system to try to combat the virus. Occasionally in a very few people it may be that, due to the amount of damage done to the liver by the virus over the years, that you will need to go on to have a liver transplant at some point. As with any sexually transmitted infection you must stop having sex with other people until you have been given the all clear from your doctor.
Who do I need to tell?
You will need to tell ALL your sexual partners in the 6 months before you got the first symptoms so they can be given a blood test and be vaccinated against the virus as this will stop them from getting the virus or if they have it already it will make their illness less severe than it would be without the vaccine.
How do I prevent it?
Use a condom for all oral and anal sex to stop the spread of an infection. As it is possible to have an infection without realising, it is a good idea to have a regular sexual health screen. Stop having unsafe or risky sex by using a condom during anal or oral sex.
Due to the fact gay men are at very high risk from contracting the hepatitis virus it is now possible to be vaccinated to stop you from contracting hepatitis B. Every gay man who is sexually active should be encouraged to have this vaccine which is available at your local sexual health clinic (GUM clinic); it is very safe and has few side effects. The course of vaccination will mean a series of injections usually over a 6-month period
Remember you won’t know who has the virus and who doesn’t just by looking at someone and because only a few people will develop any symptoms they may not even know it themselves. IN FACT YOU MAY EVEN HAVE HEPATITIS B NOW IF YOU HAVE HAD UNSAFE SEX SO REMEMBER TO ALWAYS USE A CONDOM DURING SEX.Written by an eefo.net user
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