What Are the Symptoms and Consequences of Hepatitis B Infection?
Like other forms of viral hepatitis, acute hepatitis B infection is usually associated with the following symptoms: • nausea; • vomiting; • malaise (a general feeling that you are sick); • decreased appetite; • headache; • fever; • darkened urine; • jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes); and • pain on the right side of the abdomen over the liver. Less than 1% of patients infected by the hepatitis B virus develop fulminant (sudden and severe) hepatitis and die. About 85 to 90% of patients who develop an acute hepatitis B infection experience complete resolution of their physical symptoms and develop antibodies that provide immunity from future infection. The remaining 10 to 15% become chronically infected. Of these, 15 to 30% subsequently develop chronic hepatitis or liver cirrhosis, and a small percentage develops liver cancer. Chronic liver disease is particularly likely to occur in patients who become co-infected with hepatitis D virus. (For more information, go
