Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B can be very infectious. Some people pass on the virus more easily than others because they have more of the virus in their bloodstream.
What are the symptoms?
After the virus enters the body, there are no symptoms for one to six months (known as the incubation period). Many people never have any symptoms. Some people may only have a mild illness and are not ill enough to see a doctor. They may not know they are infected, although they can pass on the virus to others. A few people develop a serious illness and need to be looked after in hospital. There may be general symptoms such as tiredness, aches and pains, a fever and/or a loss of appetite, which may be diagnosed as flu.
There may also be:
- Nausea (feeling sick) and sickness.
- Stomach ache.
- Diarrhoea.
- Jaundice. Jaundice is easily noticeable because the whites of the eyes go yellow and in more serious cases: the skin goes yellow, urine may turn dark, bowel motions become pale.
Jaundice is caused by too much of a yellow substance called bilirubin building up in the body.
Bilirubin is a waste product from the breakdown of red blood cells that the liver normally gets rid of by passing it out in your bowel motions. When the liver is not working properly, bilirubin builds up in the body.
Hepatitis B can cause an acute or a chronic illness. An acute illness is one that gets better quickly, usually within weeks or, at the most, a few months. A chronic illness is one that lasts a long time, possibly for the rest of your life. Sometimes symptoms come and go.
People who are most at risk of being infected are:
- injecting drug users.
- babies born to infected mothers.
- family members and partners of an infected person.
- healthcare workers who have direct contact with blood, e.g. doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives.
- people who live and work in accommodation for people with severe learning difficulties.
- prisoners.
- people travelling and working in countries where the virus is common.
- people who have unprotected sex (without a condom) with people who may be infected.
Acute hepatitis B
It will take a while to recover from acute hepatitis B. Most people feel better within a few weeks, although they may feel tired and not have much energy for many months. Other people may recover without ever realising they have been infected. For a few people who develop severe hepatitis B, a liver transplant can save their life.
Chronic hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is called chronic when the infection lasts longer than six months. A few people have the virus in their bodies for a long time, sometimes for life, without experiencing any symptoms. They are known as carriers and may not know that they are infected. Some carriers develop liver disease while others remain healthy. Most carriers are infectious, but some get rid of the virus after several years. About 25% of carriers develop serious liver disease, including chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis, and after many years some of them go on to develop primary liver cancer.