HEPATITIS B

Hepatitis B infection (HBV)

I will start by explaining what hepatitis means. Literally it means inflammation of the Liver. Hepatitis is therefore a disease characterised by the inflammation of the liver.

I assume we all know what the Liver is and how important it is. For the benefit of those who have forgotten their biology, the liver is a vital organ located on the upper part of the right side of your abdomen. The liver is just one and it serves as the function of the factory of your body. It has loads of very vital roles including the clearing of your blood of toxins, drugs, alcohol etc. It also produces the bile that help in fat digestion, stores glycogen (storage form of glucose) for use when we lack glucose in our blood. It also produces products needed for clotting of blood, among other functions.

What causes of Hepatitis:

Hepatitis is caused by several things but the most common ones are

* Viruses
* alcohol
* drugs like paracetamol, oral contraceptives, non steroidals like ibuprofen among others
* other infections and diseases

For the purposes of this article I will focus on the viral causes.

There are five types of viruses known to cause hepatitis as follows:
Hepatitis A, B,C,D and E viruses.

Hepatitis B and C are the most virulent and dangerous.

For now let me concentrate on Hepatitis B virus (HBV )

Facts about HBV infection

* About 2 billion suffer from it worldwide. This shows how quick this disease spreads
* about 350 million people suffer from the chronic form of the disease known as chronic HBV
* the bad news is that it has no cure
* the good news is that it is preventable
* though it has no cure there are medications available to help the sufferer from progressing to the severe forms.
* it is the 10th leading cause of death worldwide
* it usually takes between 40 days to 160 days for symptoms to develop after exposure to the virus
* Several sufferers show no symptom at all, yet they can still infect others.
* most of the symptoms are non specific and can be mistaken for malaria, flu, typhoid etc.

How is HBV spread

* sexually : both vaginal and anal

* through transfusion of contaminated blood or blood products

* vertical transmission being from a woman to her baby during child birth

* reuse of contaminated needles and syringes

* there are also evidence that it can be passed through kissing and breast feeding.

What is the fate of someone who contacts the virus?

There are different scenarios and some of them are as follows :

* you may show no symptoms and after a few months infection clears completely
* you may show no symptoms but infection stays quiet in the liver . This is known as silent or anicteric hepatitis B infection. Though you don't show symptoms you can infect others.
* you may develop acute hepatitis B infection. What does this mean?
This is when the infection stays in your body from when you contact it to about 3 months.
* this acute hepatitis may gradually clear over the 3 months period and you get well completely or you may develop any or some of the following:

A very severe form of acute hepatitis known as a fulminant liver failure . This means your liver has failed and may require a liver transplant to live or you may die.
Chronic hepatitis which means you have carried this infection for up to 6 months and beyond . This Chronic Hepatitis B infection can also progress to very hopeless conditions like cirrhosis where your liver is scarred or even cancer of the liver known as hepatocellular cancer.

Part 2 to follow, watch out.

Thanks for reading

Dr Chin Akano
26/09/2012

CERVIX CANCER PART 2

CANCER OF THE CERVIX PART 2

In this series we shall be looking at the symptoms of cancer of the cervix

Like I highlighted in the previous article on this topic, cancer of cervix is the second commonest cancer in women and it is a major killer. The good news is that if diagnosed early it can be treated with excellent outcomes. Cervical screening is a good way of identifying cells that will turn into cancer and if detected early these cells can be destroyed so they don't become cancerous.
It is therefore crucial that every woman especially those between 20 and 65 years go for cervical screening ( pap /cervical smear).

What are the symptoms of this killer disease?

It may show no symptom until it becomes advanced at which stage it may be incurable. It is therefore essential that early diagnosis is made, hence the need to go for cervical screening.

There are however some symptoms that are associated with this disease . These include the following:

• The commonest symptom is abnormal vaginal bleeding. By this I mean vaginal bleeding that is not the normal menstrual bleeding.

Examples are

* coital and post-coital bleeding: This is vaginal bleeding during and after sexual intercourse.

* Intermenstrual bleeding:
This is bleeding in between your normal periods

* Post menopausal bleeding
This is bleeding in women who have attained menopause ( means they have normally stopped seeing their periods)

* Contact bleeding:
This is bleeding for example while you are douching or when your vagina is being examined with fingers or speculum by your doctor or nurse.

Before I become a scare monger, I must stress that not all cases of abnormal vaginal bleeding is due to cancer of the cervix. There are several other causes.

Apart from abnormal vaginal bleeding, other symptoms of cervical cancer are

• Painful sex (dyspareunia):
I am also not saying that every woman that experiences discomfort or pain during sex has cancer of the cervix. As always there are other possible causes of painful sex ranging from simple reasons lack of sexual lubrication in the woman, the male partner having an oversized penis, to vaginal infection and so on and so forth.

• Vaginal discharge which is often foul smelling :

Like we know there are other causes of offensive vaginal discharge like bacterial vaginosis (BV) etc.

• Pelvic pain

• Dysuria ( pain or burning sensation during urination)

My advice is that any woman who experiences abnormal vaginal bleeding , vaginal discharge etc must go and see her doctor as a matter of urgency.

Let me also quickly add that at advanced stages cancer of the cervix may show other symptoms especially when it has spread to other organs. Some of those symptoms include

• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Tiredness/lethargy
• Constipation
• Bone pain
• Change in bowel and bladder habits
• Leg swelling
• Passing blood in urine (haematuria)
• Urinary incontinence
• Several others

Watch out for a follow up article discussing how to diagnose cancer of the cervix, treatment etc.

Thanks for reading
Dr Chin Akano

NEW PROJECTS

CONFERENCE OF CATHOLICS BISHOPS

BELOW ARE THE NEWS PICTURES FOR THE CONFERENCE OF CATHOLICS BISHOPS OF NIGERIA HELD IN UMUAHIA, CAPITAL OF ABIA STATE.

Many organizations and corporate bodies are now finding Abia State a suitable destination for conferences, summits, investments, etc. It's worthy to note that the Government of Abia State has invested well to restore peace and security, promote economic growth and safeguard the State interest.

> Pix 1, Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state in a handshake with his Anambra state counterpart Gov. Peter Obi at a Church service marking the conference of catholic bishops' of Nigeria in Umuahia, watching is Chief Mrs Mercy Odochi Orji, wife of Abia state governor.

> Pix 2, Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra state, Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state with his wife Chief Mrs Mercy Odochi Orji and Chief Emeka Wogu, Minister for Labour and Productivity (rep. president Jonathan) after a Church service marking the conference of catholic bishops of Nigeria in Umuahia.

> Pix 3, Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state and his wife Chief Mrs Mercy Odochi Orji (3rd left), Chief Emeka Wogu, Minister for Labour and Productivity (rep. president Jonathan) middle, President, Conference of catholic bishops of Nigeria, and Bishop of Jos, Bishop Ignatius Kaigama (on the minister’s right), Representative of Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Augustine Kaujja, Papal Nunico to Nigeria (6th left) and Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra state in a group photograph after a Church service marking the conference of catholic bishops of Nigeria in Umuahia.

> Pix 4, L-R Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra state, Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state and Chief Emeka Wogu, Minister for Labour and Productivity (rep. president Jonathan) departing from the venue after a Church service marking the conference of catholic bishops' of Nigeria in Umuahia.

> Pix 5, L-R Chief Emeka Wogu, Minister for Labour and Productivity (rep. president Jonathan), Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state, Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra state and Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo state at the opening ceremony of catholic bishops’ conference at the Bishop Nwedo Episcopal centre in Umuahia.

> Pix 6 and 7, Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state exchanging pleasantries with the President, Conference of catholic bishops of Nigeria, and Bishop of Jos, Bishop Ignatius Kaigama during the opening ceremony of catholic bishops’ conference at the Bishop Nwedo Episcopal centre in Umuahia, watching is Chief Emeka Wogu, Minister for Labour and Productivity (rep. president Jonathan).

> Pix 8, Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state exchanging greetings with Representative of Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Augustine Kaujja, Papal Nunico to Nigeria at the opening ceremony of catholic bishops’ conference at the Bishop Nwedo Episcopal centre in Umuahia.

> Pix 9, Representative of Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Augustine Kaujja, Papal Nunico to Nigeria, President, Conference of catholic bishops of Nigeria, and Bishop of Jos, Bishop Ignatius Kaigama, Chief Emeka Wogu, Minister for Labour and Productivity (rep. president Jonathan) and Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia state at the opening ceremony of catholic bishops’ conference at the Bishop Nwedo Episcopal centre in Umuahia.