Treatment

Acute hepatitis: Most cases of acute hepatitis do not require any treatment at all and will get better with time. . The main treatment is rest. Patients are more comfortable on a low-fat diet. Alcohol should be avoided completely. Occasionally if there is vomiting or no one to look after the patient at home, hospitalisation may be needed. An intravenous drip of fluids may then prove necessary, and anti-vomiting drugs may also be given. Because antibiotics are ineffective against viruses they can't be used against hepatitis B. Drugs are available for dealing with the itchy skin, should the jaundice be severe. If you are on the oral contraceptive pill, this should be stopped and other forms of contraception used.
Patients usually improve after 2 to 3 weeks when appetite returns and jaundice subsides. Stools and urine return to their normal colour. Patients regain weight, but it may take up to 6 months to get back to normal. A period of convalescence should be planned and up to 2 months may be necessary.

Chronic hepatitis: Treatment with Interferon is used to eliminate chronic Hepatitis B This drug helps the immune system fight the hepatitis virus. Treatment with interferon is successful in many patients with chronic hepatitis B. It is given as a shot. The shots may be given every day, every other day, or 3 times a week. Lamivudine is another medicine used to treat hepatitis B. It is given as a pill. Treatment may last for a number of months. The length of treatment depends on how severe the chronic infection is. To increase your chance of recovering from chronic hepatitis, it is important to complete the entire course of treatment. Interferon does not seem to work well in patients:

• with substance abuse (alcohol or illegal drugs)
• who are not very sick
• whose test results are not very abnormal
• whose immune system is not functioning well because of AIDS
• with hepatitis B who were infected from their mothers at birth
• carriers who are no longer contagious or infectious
• with significant heart, lung or kidney diseases
• who are trying to conceive

There may be side effects from interferon. The most common side effects are flu-like symptoms, such as:

• fever
• headache
• fatigue
• nausea
• vomiting
• loss of appetite

You can reduce the side effects by taking the drug right before bedtime. The longer interferon is taken, the more likely that the side effects will go away. Your doctor can give you advice about what you can do to relieve some of the side effects.