Hepatitis B history and symptoms

History and Symptoms

Sometimes a person with HBV infection has no symptoms at all. The older you are, the more apt you are to have symptoms. You might be infected with HBV (and be spreading the virus) and not know it.

Symptoms might include:

• yellow skin or yellowing of the whites of your eyes (jaundice)
• tiredness
• loss of appetite
• nausea and vomiting
• abdominal discomfort
• dark urine
• clay-colored bowel movements
• joint pain

Hepatitis B virus infection may either be acute (self-limited) or chronic (long-standing). Persons with self-limited infection clear the infection spontaneously within weeks to months.

Children are less likely than adults to clear the infection. More than 95% of people who become infected as adults or older children will stage a full recovery and develop protective immunity to the virus. However, only 5% of newborns that acquire the infection from their mother at birth will clear the infection. Of those infected between the age of one to six, 70% will clear the infection. When the infection is not cleared, one becomes a chronic carrier of the virus.

Acute infection with hepatitis B virus is associated with acute viral hepatitis - an illness that begins with general ill-health, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, body aches, mild fever, dark urine, and then progresses to development of jaundice. It has also been noted that itchy skin all over the body has been an indication as a possible symptom of all hepatitis virus types. The illness lasts for a few weeks and then gradually improves in most affected people. A few patients may have more severe liver disease (fulminant hepatic failure), and may die as a result of it. The infection may also be entirely asymptomatic and may go unrecognized.

Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus may be either asymptomatic or may be associated with a chronic inflammation of the liver (chronic hepatitis), leading to cirrhosis over a period of several years. This type of infection dramatically increases the incidence of liver cancer.

Hepatitis D infection usually only occurs with a concomitant infection with hepatitis B. Co-infection with hepatitis D increases the risk of liver cirrhosis and subsequently, liver cancer.

Polyarteritis nodosa is more common in people with hepatitis B infection.