Viral hepatitis, including hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C, are distinct diseases that affect the liver and have different hepatitis symptoms and treatments. Other causes of hepatitis include recreational drugs and prescription medications. Hepatitis type is determined by laboratory tests.  The infection leads to inflammation of the liver with any hepatitis. The liver processes blood and filter toxins so they don’t cause damage to your body but when the organ is inflamed problems happen with the infection that caused the inflammation.

HEPATITIS A:

If you have this infection, you have inflammation in your liver that’s caused by a virus. You don’t always get symptoms, but when you do, you might have: Jaundice (yellowing of the skin), Pain in your belly, Loss of appetite, Nausea, Fever, Diarrhea, Fatigue, Loss of weight, fever, sore muscles, **Pain on the right side of the belly, under the rib cage-where your liver is located** (if not a combination of these symptoms).

Children often have the disease with few symptoms.

You can spread the Hepatitis A virus about 2 weeks before your symptoms appear and during the first week they show up, or even if you don’t have any.

How it’s transmitted:

-You can catch the disease if you drink water or food that’s been contaminated with the stool of someone with the virus.                                                                                                                                                  

You can also get infected if you:   HOW?  Well: -Eat fruits, vegetables, or other foods that were contaminated during handling.                                        

-Eat raw shellfish harvested from water that’s got the virus in it.                                                                        

-Swallow contaminated food. Exampes: Sometimes a group of people who eat at the same restaurant can get hepatitis A. This can happen when an employee with hepatitis A doesn’t wash his or her hands well after using the bathroom and then prepares food. It can also happen when a food item is contaminated by raw sewage or by an infected garden worker.                                                                                                                                                        

 -The disease can also spread in day care centers. Children, especially those in diapers, may get stool on their hands and then touch objects that other children put into their mouths. And workers can spread the virus if they don’t wash their hands well after changing a diaper.                                                                                                                                        

How Is It Diagnosed?

Blood tests allow doctors to diagnose it. **It is important to identify the type of hepatitis virus causing the infection to prevent it from spreading and to start the proper treatment. Since this Hepatitis A virus infection is spread through food or water that has been contaminated by the feces (stool) of an infected person.**

Are There Any Long-Term Effects?

Usually the virus doesn’t cause any long-term problems or complications. But according to the CDC, 10% to 15% of people with hepatitis A will have symptoms that last a long time or come back over a 6- to 9-month period. In rare situations, some people may have liver failure or need a transplant.

What’s the Treatment?

No treatments can cure the disease. Your doctor may take tests that check your liver function to be sure your body is healing.

Who is at highest risk for this?

-Live with or have sex with someone who’s -Travel to countries where hepatitis A is common

Remember the people who are also at risk:

-Men who have sex with men.                                                                                                                                       

-People who inject illegal drugs                                                                                                                                  

-Kids in child care and their teachers

-The virus can also be transmitted through close physical contact with an infectious person, although casual contact among people does not spread the virus.

HEPATITIS B

Hepatitis B is a serious disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Infection with this virus can cause scarring of the liver, liver failure, liver cancer, and even death. What happens to most cases of Hepatitis patients is the adult cases (up to 95%), hepatitis B causes limited infection. Usually people manage to fight off the infection successfully within a few months, developing an immunity that lasts a lifetime. (This means you won’t get the infection again).  Blood tests show evidence of this immunity, but no signs of active infection. Unfortunately, this is not true in infants and young children in which 90% of infants and 30% to 50% of children will develop a chronic infection.

Symptoms of acute infection (when a person is first infected with hepatitis) include:

–Jaundice (yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes and/or a brownish or orange tint to the urine) -Unusually light colored stool  -Unexplained fatigue that persists for weeks or months    

-Flu-like symptoms such as fever, loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting –Abdominal pain

Often, symptoms occur one to six months after exposure, with an average of three month. An estimated 30% of those infected do not have any symptoms at all.

How it’s transmitted:

Hepatitis B is spread in infected blood and other bodily fluids such as semen and vaginal secretions. It is spread in the same way that the virus that causes AIDS (HIV) is spread but hepatitis B is 50 to 100 times more infectious. Most people who are infected with hepatitis B in the U.S. do not know they have it. If you’re pregnant and you’ve got hepatitis B, you could give the disease to your unborn child. If you deliver a baby who’s got it, he needs to get treatment in the first 12 hours after birth.

How it’s diagnosed:                                                                                                              

If your doctor suspects that you may have hepatitis B, he or she will perform a complete physical exam and order blood tests to look at the function of your liver. Hepatitis B is confirmed with blood tests that detect the virus.

If your disease becomes chronic, liver biopsies (tissue samples) may be obtained to detect the severity of the disease.

Are There Any Long-Term Effects?

Liver damage if the virus is not taken care will happen with multiple organ crash from putting affect on other organs from doing their jobs.

WHAT’S THE TREATMENT:

Treatment depends on whether you:

-Have been recently infected with the virus (treating acute hepatitis B).

-Have the symptoms of an acute infection.                                                                                                                  

-Have chronic infection (Have had the hepatitis B for a chronic period of time).                                        

-Acute vs Chronic=different RX.

Acute Hep B. you should get a shot of hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and the first of three shots of the hepatitis B vaccine(What is a PDF document?). It is important to receive this treatment within 7 days after a needle stick and within 2 weeks after sexual contact that may have exposed you to the virus. The sooner you receive treatment after exposure, the better the treatment works.

Regarding Chronic Hep B treatment depends on how active the virus is in your body and your chance of liver damage. The goal of treatment is to stop liver damage by keeping the virus from multiplying.

Antiviral medicine is used if the virus is active and you are at risk for liver damage. Medicine slows the ability of the virus to multiply.

Antiviral treatment isn’t given to everyone who has chronic hepatitis B.

Follow-up visits

Whether or not you take medicine, you will need to visit your doctor regularly. He or she will do blood tests to check your liver and the activity of the hepatitis B virus in your body.

Some of the tests can find out whether the virus is multiplying in your liver, which would increase your risk of liver damage.

Liver transplant

If you develop advanced liver damage and your condition becomes life-threatening, you may need a liver transplant. But not everyone is a good candidate for a liver transplant.

If you have not gotten a hepatitis B vaccine and think you may have been exposed to the virus, you should get a shot of hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and the first of three shots of the hepatitis B vaccine(What is a PDF document?). It is important to receive this treatment within 7 days after a needle stick and within 2 weeks after sexual contact that may have exposed you to the virus. The sooner you receive treatment after exposure, the better the treatment works.

THOSE AT HIGHEST RISK FOR HEPATITIS B:

-Being born in, or spending more than 6 months in, parts of the world where hepatitis B is common or where a large number of people have been infected for a long time. Such areas include Southeast and Central Asia, the islands of the South Pacific, the Amazon River basin, the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and China.

-Being a man who has sex with men.

-Being sexually active. This includes having unprotected sex with someone who is infected with the virus or whose sexual history is unknown to you.

-Having more than one sex partner. (Your risk is higher if you have another sexually transmitted infection such as chlamydia.)

-Living with someone who has a chronic hepatitis B infection.

-Getting body piercings or tattoos from someone who doesn’t sterilize his or her equipment.

-Sharing needles or other equipment (such as cotton, spoons, and water) to inject illegal drugs.

“Auto-brewery syndrome (ABS) is a rare condition that causes alcohol intoxication in people who haven’t consumed any alcohol. It’s also known as gut fermentation syndrome (GFS). It happens when microbes in your intestines ferment the sugars that you eat to produce ethanol — just like a brewery in your gut.”

Cleveland Clinic

(Auto-Brewery Syndrome: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment)

“Legionnaires’ disease is a severe case of pneumonia – an inflammation in the lungs caused by a bacterium called legionella.

Legionnaires’ disease is caused by the waterborne Legionella bacteria, named after the 1976 outbreak involving a Philadelphia convention of the American Legion. During the event, many veterans and some attendees developed a severe, previously unrecognized form of pneumonia that became known as Legionnaires’ disease.

Up to 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease annually in the U.S. with outbreaks most common between June and October.

About 1 in 10 people who get sick from being infected by Legionella will die.  Awareness and early treatment are vital to help people fully recover from this disease.”

Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires Disease (Awareness – Prevent Legionnaires)

“The American Cancer Society’s estimates for soft tissue sarcomas in the United States for 2025 are:

• About 13,520 new soft tissue sarcomas will be diagnosed (7,600 in males and 5920 in females).
• About 5,420 people (2,960 males and 2,450 females) are expected to die of soft tissue sarcomas.

These statistics include both adults and children.”

Key Statistics for Soft Tissue Sarcomas | American Cancer Society

“Carcinoma is one of the five main types of cancer.

Carcinomas are the kind you hear about the most. When people say they have skin cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer and so on, those are all carcinomas.

“Carcinomas are the most common type of cancer. They’re the ones most people immediately think of,” Dr. Shepard says.

That’s because 80% of cancer diagnoses are carcinomas.

Carcinomas are cancers that develop in your epithelial cells. Those are the cells at the outermost layer of the surfaces inside and outside your body. They’re the cells that surround your skin, as well as your organs and glands.”

Cleveland Clinic (The Difference Between Carcinoma and Sarcoma)

“Cardiomyopathy can be caused by various factors, including genetic predisposition, viral infections, alcohol abuse, high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases, and certain medications. Complications of cardiomyopathy can include arrhythmias, heart failure, stroke, heart valve disease, cardiac arrest, and cardiogenic shock. Early detection and management are crucial to prevent these complications.”

National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (Cardiomyopathy – Causes and Risk Factors | NHLBI, NIH)

The main types of cardiomyopathy include dilated, hypertrophic and restrictive cardiomyopathy.

Types of cardiomyopathy include:

• Dilated cardiomyopathy. In this type of cardiomyopathy, the pumping ability of your heart’s main pumping chamber — the left ventricle — becomes enlarged (dilated) and can’t effectively pump blood out of the heart.Although this type can affect people of all ages, it occurs most often in middle-aged people and is more likely to affect men. The most common cause is coronary artery disease or heart attack.
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This type involves abnormal thickening of your heart muscle, particularly affecting the muscle of your heart’s main pumping chamber (left ventricle). The thickened heart muscle can make it harder for the heart to work properly.Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can develop at any age, but the condition tends to be more severe if it becomes apparent during childhood. Most affected people have a family history of the disease, and some genetic mutations have been linked to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
• Restrictive cardiomyopathy. In this type, the heart muscle becomes rigid and less elastic, so it can’t expand and fill with blood between heartbeats. This least common type of cardiomyopathy can occur at any age, but it most often affects older people.Restrictive cardiomyopathy can occur for no known reason (idiopathic), or it can by caused by a disease elsewhere in the body that affects the heart, such as when iron builds up in the heart muscle (hemochromatosis).
• Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. In this rare type of cardiomyopathy, the muscle in the lower right heart chamber (right ventricle) is replaced by scar tissue, which can lead to heart rhythm problems. It’s often caused by genetic mutations.
• Unclassified cardiomyopathy. Other types of cardiomyopathy fall into this category.

Risk factors

There are a number of factors that can increase your risk of cardiomyopathy, including:

• Family history of cardiomyopathy, heart failure and sudden cardiac arrest
• Long-term high blood pressure
• Conditions that affect the heart, including a past heart attack, coronary artery disease or an infection in the heart (ischemic cardiomyopathy)
• Obesity, which makes the heart work harder
• Long-term alcohol abuse
• Illicit drug use, such as cocaine, amphetamines and anabolic steroids
• Certain chemotherapy drugs and radiation therapy for cancer
• Certain diseases, such as diabetes, an under- or overactive thyroid gland, or a disorder that causes the body to store excess iron (hemochromatosis)
• Other conditions that affect the heart, such as a disorder that causes the buildup of abnormal proteins (amyloidosis), a disease that causes inflammation and can cause lumps of cells to grow in the heart and other organs (sarcoidosis), or connective tissue disorders

Complications

Cardiomyopathy can lead to other heart conditions, including:

• Heart failure. Your heart can’t pump enough blood to meet your body’s needs. Untreated, heart failure can be life-threatening.
• Blood clots. Because your heart can’t pump effectively, blood clots might form in your heart. If clots enter your bloodstream, they can block the blood flow to other organs, including your heart and brain.
• Valve problems. Because cardiomyopathy causes the heart to enlarge, the heart valves might not close properly. This can lead to a backward flow of blood.
• Cardiac arrest and sudden death. Cardiomyopathy can lead to abnormal heart rhythms. These abnormal heart rhythms can result in fainting or, in some cases, sudden death if your heart stops beating effectively.

Prevention

In many cases, you can’t prevent cardiomyopathy. Let your doctor know if you have a family history of the condition.

You can help reduce your chance of cardiomyopathy and other types of heart disease by living a heart-healthy lifestyle and making lifestyle choices such as:

• Avoiding the use of alcohol or cocaine
• Controlling high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes
• Eating a healthy diet
• Getting regular exercise
• Getting enough sleep
• Reducing your stress

“Cardiomyopathy (kahr-dee-o-my-OP-uh-thee) is a disease of the heart muscle. It causes the heart to have a harder time pumping blood to the rest of the body, which can lead to symptoms of heart failure. Cardiomyopathy also can lead to some other serious heart conditions.

There are various types of cardiomyopathy in all age groups.”

MAYO CLINIC (Cardiomyopathy – Symptoms and causes – Mayo Clinic)

C

Heart Enlarged

Cardiomyopathy is cardiomyopathy, meaning rather in adult or child the same problems in each age group occur but degree of the disease varies for all, it is case by case.  What is cardiomyopathy?

Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle characterized by an abnormally large, thick or stiff heart muscle. It may affect only the heart’s lower chambers (ventricles) or both the lower and upper chambers (atria).  For an adult there just more wear and tear on the organ due to age and severity of the disease.

Cardiomyopathy causes damage to tissue around the heart, as well as heart muscle cells. In severe cases, the heart becomes so weak that it can’t pump blood properly. This can lead to heart failure or irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias). In some cases, cardiomyopathy also involves a buildup of scar tissue or fat within the heart muscle. In rare cases, the heart muscle can’t relax and blood can’t fill the heart properly.

Remember the natural pacemaker in humans is located in the upper right chamber (Rt. atrium) in the upper right region called the sinus node.  The sinus node initiates our impulses from that right atrium across to the Lt. atrium and works the impulse sensation down thru the A-V node-atrioventricular node (site between upper and lower chambers in the heart located at the inferior end of the interatrial septum ending at the top of the ventricles in the heart)).   From the A-V node the impulse sensation continues on from A-V node to the end of the lower right and left lower chambers (called the ventricles) of the heart that continues up the ventricles and passing through the bundle of His to the bundle branches/Purkinje fibers (The bundle of His is an important part of the electrical conduction system of the heart, as it transmits impulses from the A-V node, located at the inferior end of the interatrial septum, to the ventricles of the heart).   Than the impulse sensation goes located in the inner ventricular walls of the heart radiating over the outside of the ventricles = Purkinje Fibers. This whole process allows the heart beat to occur sounding “LubDub”.

This entire impulse conduction process allows the heart to fill up the chambers with blood first in upper chambers to lower ones to releasing the blood in the ventricles (the Rt Ventricle pumps blood to the heart to get more oxygen from lungs that sends this fresh oxygenated blood to the left side of the heart.  The left ventricle pumps the filling of its blood into our blood stream called Cardiac Output in creating the heart to beat.  Stroke Volume x Heart Rate=our Cardiac Output (SVxHR=CO).  Stroke volume is the amount of blood circulated by the heart with each beat  x HR = beat in 60 secs.

Cardiomyopathy is very often a “time-will-tell” disease. Symptoms can vary and the progression of the disease can be unpredictable.  There are many forms of cardiomyopathy; just like in the adult.

What are the types of cardiomyopathy?

The main types include:

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)

DCM is the most common type and occurs when the main pumping chamber of the heart muscle is too stretched out (dilated). Dilated cardiomyopathy makes the heart unable to pump blood effectively.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)

HCM makes the heart muscle too thick. Usually, the thickening occurs in the muscle of the left ventricle in the heart, often involving the wall between the heart’s two ventricles.

Restrictive cardiomyopathy

Restrictive cardiomyopathy is a rare type of cardiomyopathy that causes the heart muscle to become very rigid or stiff. This makes it difficult for the ventricles of the heart to properly fill with blood.

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC)

ARVC is a rare form of cardiomyopathy that affects only one in 5,000 people. It occurs when the muscle of the heart’s right ventricle is replaced by thick or fatty scar tissue. The scarring “scrambles” electrical signals within the heart and can make it difficult for the heart to pump blood.

Remember the sinus node (natural pacemaker) of the heart.

How Cardiomyopathy is diagnosed:

Because the symptoms of cardiomyopathy can be diverse, it is often misdiagnosed as asthma, an infection or a gastrointestinal problem but the tests similar to adults tests being ruled out for this disease.  Remember its the same problem at a different age.

In children who have no symptoms, cardiomyopathy is sometimes diagnosed when the child has a chest x-ray that shows an enlarged heart or an echocardiogram for another reason.

If your child’s doctor suspects cardiomyopathy, he or she may order one or more of the following tests, from least invasive to most invasive tests:

• blood tests
• chest x-rays
• electrocardiogram  (EKG or ECG)
• echocardiogram (cardiac ultrasound)
• cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• stress echocardiography, which uses ultrasound and heart-rate monitoring to assess your child’s heart function just before and just after exercise
• stress test, or exercise test
• cardiac catheterization
• coronary angiography

What are the treatment (Rx) options for cardiomyopathy, again similar to adults Rx.?

Your child’s treatment options will be determined by the type of cardiomyopathy he or she has, as well as the specific symptoms. A child with no symptoms might not need medication or other treatment right away. Instead, the cardiologist will monitor your child to gauge the progression of the disease.

A child with more serious symptoms may need additional tests to give the treatment team more detailed information about how the cardiomyopathy is affecting the heart and the rest of the body. .

Many children with cardiomyopathy do well with medication alone. Others need surgery to improve the function of valves, and in the most severe cases, some children need a heart transplant.

Medication for cardiomyopathy

There are several different types of medications for cardiomyopathy, depending on which type your child has and the symptoms.

• Angiotestin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are drugs that dilate blood vessels in the body, fighting the constricting effect caused by heart failure.
• Antiarrhythmic medications combat the abnormal heart rhythms caused by irregular electrical activity within the heart.
• Beta blockers block certain chemicals from binding to nerve receptors in the heart, slowing the heart rate and lowering blood pressure.
• Blood thinners or anticoagulants help prevent the formation of blood clots, especially in children with the dilated form of cardiomyopathy.
• Diuretics prevent the buildup of fluid in the body and can help breathing by reducing fluid in the lungs. These drugs may also be helpful in treating scar tissue on the heart.

Surgical treatments for cardiomyopathy

There are several options for treating cardiomyopathy using surgery or minimally-invasive procedures.

Defibrillators

For some children with cardiomyopathy — particularly HCM — an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) can be a life-saving option. This tiny instrument, about the size of a deck of cards, is placed in the chest to monitor the child’s heartbeat. If the child has an arrhythmia, the defibrillator will administer a precise electrical pulse to restore normal heart rhythm.

Pacemakers

Pacemaker implantation is minimally invasive option for some children with cardiomyopathy. The pacemaker — a small electronic device — is inserted directly under the skin, where it sends electric signals to the child’s heart, controlling and monitoring the heart rate. The procedure can be performed under local anesthesia in a matter of hours.

Radiofrequency ablation

Radiofrequency ablation is another type of minimally invasive treatment that can be very effective for some children with cardiomyopathy due to arrhythmia. A small, needle-like probe is inserted into the scarred tissue of the heart muscle, sending out radiofrequency waves that burns away the scar tissue and the arrhythmia.

Surgical removal of some heart muscle

In serious cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the treatment team may perform a surgery called a septal myectomy or septal myomectomy. This procedure involves the removal of a portion of the thickened muscle in the heart, widening the channel in the heart’s ventricle that leads to the aortic valve. The procedure has a very good success rate, and most children have improved blood flow throughout the heart and body.

Ventricular assist device

In certain types of cardiomyopathy, a ventricular-assist device (VAD) can be used to help recover the heart and normalize the heart’s function. After the heart’s function has returned to normal, the VAD will be removed and the child will be monitored for any further heart problems. This approach using the VAD is called a “bridge to recovery.”

Heart transplant

Children with the most severe cases of cardiomyopathy may need a heart transplant if other methods don’t manage symptoms. While your child is waiting for an available heart, a VAD may be used to support the heart. In many cases, children can return to school and other activities while waiting for a transplant.

So similar to how adults are treated also with cardiomyopathy.  The age is the pretty much the difference.