Jaundice Prevention
You
can take precautions to minimize your risk of developing the condition.
- Ensuring
that you stick to the recommended daily amount (RDA) for alcohol
consumption.
- Maintaining
a healthy weight for your height and build.
- If
appropriate, ensuring that you're vaccinated against Hepatitis A or hepatitis B, which are
more common in certain parts of the world – vaccination is usually only
recommended depending on where in the world you're travelling .
- Minimizing
your risk of exposure to hepatitis C, as there's currently no vaccine for
the condition – in England, the most effective way of preventing hepatitis
C is by not injecting illegal drugs such as heroin, or making sure that
you don't share drug injecting equipment if you do.
Information about each precaution is provided
below.
Alcohol
Giving
up drinking alcohol altogether is the most effective way of reducing your risk
of developing jaundice, particularly if you've been drinking for many years.
As a
minimum preventative measure, stick to the recommended daily amounts for
alcohol consumption. The recommended daily amounts are:
- 3-4
units a day for men
- 2-3
units a day for women
A
unit of alcohol is approximately equal to half a pint of normal strength lager,
a small glass of wine or a single measure 25ml of spirits.
Many
experts would recommend that as well as sticking to the recommended daily
amounts, you also spend two to three days a week not drinking any alcohol.
Visit
Our Clinic, if you're
finding it difficult to moderate your alcohol consumption. Counseling services and
medication are available to help you reduce your alcohol intake.
Maintaining a healthy weight
- Obesity
and the resulting damage it can sometimes cause to the liver (non-alcoholic
fatty liver disease) is an often overlooked cause of cirrhosis (scarring
of the liver) and jaundice. Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is
therefore an effective way of preventing jaundice.
- In
addition, a high-fat diet can increase your blood cholesterol level, which
in turn will also raise your risk of developing gallstones.
- The
most successful weight loss programs include at least 150 minutes (2 hours
and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, such as cycling or
fast walking, every week, eating smaller portions and only having healthy
snacks in between meals. A gradual weight loss of around 0.5kg a week is
usually recommended.
Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B
As
both hepatitis A and hepatitis B are relatively uncommon conditions in England,
vaccination is usually only recommended if you're travelling to parts of the
world that are known to have high levels of both conditions. You may also be
advised to have a vaccination if your job or lifestyle increases your risk of
exposure to either type of virus.
For example, vaccination for hepatitis A
is recommended for:
Ø People who are travelling to places where the virus is common,
such as the Indian subcontinent, Africa, central and south America, the Far
East and eastern Europe
Ø People who work in laboratories
Ø People who work with primates, such as monkeys and chimpanzees
Vaccination for hepatitis B is
recommended for:
visitors
to parts of the world where hepatitis B is widespread, such as southeast Asia,
sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Islands, such as Samoa or the Solomon
Islands
ü Those who regularly inject drugs
ü Men who have sex with men
ü Sex workers
Hepatitis C
If
you regularly inject drugs such as heroin, the best way to avoid getting
hepatitis C is to not share any of your drug-injecting equipment with other
users. This doesn't just apply to needles, but also to anything that could come
into contact with other people's blood, such as:
¬ Mixing spoons
¬ Filters
¬ Water used to dissolve drugs
¬ Tourniquets (the belt that drug users sometimes tie around their
arm to make their veins easier to inject)
As
hepatitis C doesn't cause any noticeable symptoms for many years, many people
may not realize that they're infected. It's therefore safer to assume that
anyone may have the infection.
Even
if you're not a drug user, it's important to take some commonsense precautions
to minimize your exposure to other people's blood, for example by avoiding
sharing any object that could be contaminated with blood, such as razors and
toothbrushes.
There's
less risk of developing hepatitis C by having sex with someone who is infected,
but as a precaution it's recommended that you use a barrier method of
contraception, such as a condom.
It
may also be possible to get hepatitis C by sharing banknotes or "snorting
tubes" to snort drugs, such as cocaine or amphetamine. These types of
drugs can irritate the lining of the nose, and small particles of contaminated
blood could be passed on to the note or tube, which you could then inhale.
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