What are the symptoms and how does hepatitis C progress?
Most people have no symptoms or only mild flu-like’ symptoms in the acute phase. If symptoms do occur they develop about 7 8 weeks after being exposed to the virus, symptoms may include: • Flu-like illness (fever, feeling generally unwell, tiredness) • Abdominal pain • Nausea and vomiting • Itchy skin • Jaundice (yellow tinge of skin and whites of eyes, dark urine and pale faeces) Following the initial infection: • In about 20% of cases the hepatitis C virus is cleared from the body by the immune system, usually within 2 6 months. • In about 4 in 5 cases, the virus remains active in the bloodstream and liver long-term. This is called chronic infection with hepatitis C.
