Hepatitis : I Wanna Know

What is Hepatitis?

Hepatitis is a serious virus that can attack the liver. There are five types of hepatitis. The most common types are hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C.

How do I get Hepatitis?

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis B

Hepatitis C

What does hepatitis do to my body?

Hepatitis can cause a number of problems, including yellow eyes and skin, stomach pain or swelling, muscle weakness, joint pain, rashes, nausea or vomiting, dark urine (pee), loss of appetite, fever, and tiredness.

Sometimes there are no signs at first. It is very important to get tested to see if you have hepatitis.

How do I find out if I have hepatitis?

Ask your doctor for a hepatitis test. If you don’t have a regular doctor or another healthcare provider, you can search for a clinic in your area that offers testing.

Is there a cure for hepatitis?

No. There is no cure, but there are medicines to treat hepatitis. There are also vaccines for hepatitis A and hepatitis B that will prevent the disease. Ask your healthcare provider about them.

Tattoos and Body Piercing

Hepatitis B and C transmission can occur if a tattoo artist or body piercer uses an unsterilized (unclean) needle used on someone else that has hepatitis B or C to pierce or tattoo a person or uses other equipment that is unclean.

Before getting a tattoo or piercing, check out the place, ask some questions:

Is the place clean & professional looking?
Does the artist or piercer wash his/her hands and wear latex gloves when tattooing or body piercing?
Does the artist or piercer use sterile, disposable needles that he/she opens in front of the customers?
Does the artist or piercer throw away ink caps, razors, and stencils after each use?
Does the artist or piercer use an autoclave (an intense heating process) to sterilize (clean) equipment? If they do, ask if the autoclave gets inspected monthly?
Does the artist or piercer sterilize the bottles used for color and/or the work area with bleach or other approved disinfectants?
Does the artist or piercer use an ultrasonic tank to rinse the tube and needle set from the tattoo machines?

How can I reduce my risk of getting hepatitis?

There are a lot of ways to reduce your risk of getting an STI.

Here are some specific tips to reduce your risk for hepatitis:

Don't have sex. Vaginal, anal or oral sex can pass hepatitis.
Use condoms. If you do decide to have sex, use latex condoms or other barriers (dams, plastic wrap, etc.) if you do have vaginal, anal or oral sex.
Always wash your hands after going to the bathroom or changing a baby's diaper.
Don't share injection drug needles. If you do inject drugs, make sure you use only clean needles, syringes, and other works. Never share needles, syringes and other works. And get tested for HIV every year.