STEVE EMBER: The liver is in the upper right part of the stomach. This dark, red organ is big. It weighs more than one kilogram. And, it has a big job. The liver helps clean the blood and fight infection. It also helps break down food and store energy until the body needs it.
Hepatitis destroys liver cells. Some kinds of hepatitis are much more serious than others. Which kind a person has can only be known from tests for antibodies in the blood.
Antibodies are special proteins that the body's natural defenses against disease produce in answer to a threat. Identify the antibody and you identify the threat.
BARBARA KLEIN: Hepatitis A is usually spread through human waste in water or food. It is in the same group of viruses as those that cause the disease polio.
The hepatitis A virus causes high body temperature, pain and weakness. It causes problems with the stomach and intestines, making it difficult to eat or break down food. Also, the skin of a person with hepatitis may become yellow. This is a sign that the liver is not operating normally.
To help prevent the spread of hepatitis A, people should wash their hands after they use the restroom or change a baby's diaper. People should also wash their hands before they eat or prepare food.
STEVE EMBER: Hepatitis A can spread quickly to hundreds or thousands of people. But the virus is deadly in less than one percent of cases. Many people infected with the virus never even get sick. But those who do usually recover within two months.
The World Health Organization says hepatitis A is often found in Africa, Asia and Central and South America. People who have had hepatitis A cannot get it again. There is a vaccine to prevent hepatitis A. America's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the vaccine is the best way to protect against the disease.
(MUSIC)
BARBARA KLEIN: The World Health Organization says as many as two billion people are infected with the hepatitis B virus. More than three hundred fifty million of those infected have lifelong infections. WHO officials say an estimated six hundred thousand people die each year as a result of hepatitis B.
The virus is in the same group as the herpes and smallpox viruses. Hepatitis B vaccines have been given since the nineteen eighties. The W-H-O says the vaccine is ninety-five percent effective in preventing the development of infection.