Is hepatitis B contagious? What are the ways?

Everyone should be familiar with hepatitis B, especially decades ago, hepatitis B caused great harm in society. People did not dare to go out and eat randomly for fear of infection. So what is the transmission route of hepatitis B? Is it contagious? Everyone is not very clear, so let's take a look together.

1. Mother-to-child transmission

Mother-to-child transmission is the most important route of transmission. Mothers are the main body of family gatherings. About 30% to 50% of hepatitis B patients in my country are caused by mother-to-child transmission. More than 90% of adult cirrhosis and liver cancer are caused by hepatitis B virus infection during infancy.

"What is contagious in hepatitis B patients" is more important. The body fluids of hepatitis B patients are contagious, including semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, blood, lymph fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, pulmonary cavity fluid, peritoneal fluid, joint fluid, amniotic fluid, etc. These are all body fluids of the human body, and as long as the body fluids contain hepatitis B virus, they are contagious.

Because the human respiratory tract, digestive tract, urinary tract, etc. are all connected to the outside world, the stored body fluids are also connected to the outside world. So this body fluid is also called external solution.

2. Father-to-child transmission

What is the reason for the familial clustering of hepatitis B? In many families, because the mother or father is infected with the hepatitis B virus, their children become carriers of the hepatitis B virus. In addition to mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B, people have also found that fathers with hepatitis B can also transmit the virus to their children. Therefore, the editor raises the issue of father-to-child transmission of hepatitis B here.

The difference is that mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B is mainly through the transmission of the virus to the child during the perinatal period. It is possible that the child has been infected with the hepatitis B virus before birth. Therefore, mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B can also be called mother-to-child vertical transmission. However, the main way hepatitis B is transmitted from father to child is after the child is born. Due to the child's lack of immunity to the hepatitis B virus, he is infected with the hepatitis B virus through close contact in life. We call this mode of infection horizontal transmission.

3. Nosocomial infection

During the examination and treatment process in the hospital, the infection is caused by the use of medical devices contaminated with HBV that have not been strictly disinfected and are repeatedly used. This is called nosocomial transmission, and includes surgical and dental instruments, blood collection needles, acupuncture needles, endoscopes and other equipment.

4. Transmission through blood transfusion

The transfusion of blood and blood products infected with HBV may cause post-transfusion hepatitis B.