Hepatitis B

Hepatitis means the inflammation of the liver. It can be caused by abuse of the liver, such as is caused by alcoholism, and it can be caused by an infection.

Hepatitis B is caused by a virus. There is a vaccine for it, that you can get from your doctor or local health department. It's part of routine vaccinations for children now. People infected by Hepatitis B can have an acute infection which they recover from within 6 months or they can have a chronic infection which is lifelong.

350 million people in the world have chronic Hepatitis B. Some of them have no symptoms. Since vaccination became a regular occurrence in the USA the number of cases has decreased. Even so, the estimate is that 1 million people in the USA are infected.

You can check my facts at the Center for Disease Control website. I think that the FAQ's are fairly thorough as well.

Why does this matter?

Because without information we usually have misconceptions. We have fear of the unknown and we react in exaggerated ways.

I also want to copy this for you, right from the CDC website.

How is hepatitis B spread?

Hepatitis B is spread when blood, semen, or other body fluid infected with the hepatitis B virus enters the body of a person who is not infected. People can become infected with the virus during activities such as:

• Birth (spread from an infected mother to her baby during birth)
• Sex with an infected partner
• Sharing needles, syringes, or other drug-injection equipment
• Sharing items such as razors or toothbrushes with an infected person
• Sharing food that has been pre-chewed by an infected person
• Direct contact with the blood or open sores of an infected person
• Exposure to blood from needlesticks or other sharp instruments

and

What are ways hepatitis B is not spread?

Hepatitis B virus is not spread by sharing eating utensils, breastfeeding, hugging, kissing, holding hands, coughing, or sneezing. Unlike hepatitis A, it is not spread routinely through food or water. However, there have been times hepatitis B has been spread to babies when they have received food pre-chewed by an infected person.

Now that you're informed, I know that you won't over-react or act like someone is a danger to you when I tell you the next information.

One of our children has chronic Hepatitis B. After we had committed to our sibling group from Ethiopia but before the court date. When our case manager found out, she called us and gave us a week to decide if we wanted to proceed with the adoption of that child.

We knew that God had led us to our children, and if God had led us, then we could follow. We have learned that God knows so much more than we do - so we can trust His plans over ours any day. Sometimes we aren't wise enough to trust Him because we think we're smart....

We let you all meet our children without any fear. If you have fear now - let me ask you - are you going to do any of those things on the list with my child? The one you are most at risk is
"Direct contact with the blood or open sores of an infected person" and we've been with our children to take care of blood and sores. You should be careful with anyone's blood in today's world, so please be careful if my children bleed around you.

If you are really worried, like I said, there is a vaccine that you can receive that can make you immune. Hugging, kissing, sharing forks, being sneezed on - are not putting you or your children at risk (they have probably already been vaccinated). If you're worried about us - Little has been vaccinated from birth and Mommy and Daddy had the Hepatitis A and B combo vaccine before we traveled to Ethiopia - it's a standard recommendation for those traveling to Ethiopia. The other siblings have the antibodies - so they were also infected but developed resistance to it and are now immune.

Right now, the virus is not affecting the child. The liver is healthy, the child is fine. We see a pediatric gastroenterologist once a year. We are praying for healing, for it never to make our child sick. The CDC webpages say that a Hepatitis B person can have no symptoms for 20 or 30 years. I don't know if that's a promise or an average. If it is a promise, I am glad we have insurance and ready medical care to help fight the disease, something that would not have been available at home in Ethiopia.

Why didn't we tell you sooner? We don't know what you know about Hepatitis B, and whether you'd research it or let fear guide you. We knew that in your interactions with our child you weren't going to be harmfully exposed. Integrating older children into a family has it's own challenges - we didn't want to add another level of complexity or awkwardness - we wanted you to meet the child, not the diagnosis. Now you know the child, and can realize that the diagnosis, while serious, does not have to make you react differently, except to pray more.