Hepatitis

What Is Hepatitis B?

Hepatitis B is a vaccine-preventable liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus. About 1 in 2 people who have it do not know they are infected. Acute hepatitis B is a short-term illness within the first six months after exposure; it can become chronic, and untreated chronic infection can cause liver damage, cirrhosis, liver cancer and death.

Hepatitis B symptoms

Many adults with hepatitis B have no symptoms at all, and children under five almost never do. Where symptoms appear they usually start around 90 days after exposure, though the range runs from 60 to 150 days: fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, joint pain, fever, and the signs that point specifically at the liver — jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes), dark urine and pale, clay-coloured stools. Acute infection may clear on its own. Chronic hepatitis B is the more serious outcome, and it is often completely silent, causing liver damage over years or decades while the person feels well. That silence is the reason testing matters more here than symptom-watching.

How is hepatitis B spread?

Hepatitis B spreads when blood, semen or another body fluid from an infected person enters the body of someone who is not infected — even in microscopic amounts. It is not spread by kissing or sharing utensils, nor through sneezing, coughing, hugging, breastfeeding, or food and water. The virus can be found in saliva, but saliva is not how it is transmitted.

How is hepatitis B treated?

There are no medications for acute hepatitis B — for mild illness, providers usually recommend rest, adequate nutrition and fluids. There are medications for chronic hepatitis B, but they are not a cure and are only helpful for some people. Vaccination is the best way to prevent infection in the first place, and the full series is needed for protection.