Is hepatitis B deadly?
Sometimes hepatitis B may cause complications that lead to death. Hepatitis B affects people in two ways. Most people have an acute infection, which means that after they contract the virus, their immune system successfully fights it off until they are no longer infectious. Most of these people never show symptoms, and often never know they had hepatitis B. In some cases, however, a person is not able to successfully fight it off. When the body is not able to clear the virus, the person becomes a chronic carrier and may remain infectious for life. Chronic carriers are at risk for cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer, and death. The good news is that there is a vaccine to prevent people from getting hepatitis B. Check with your health care provider. Currently, this is the only Viral STD that is completely preventable by vaccination. For more information about hepatitis B, click here .
