How does hepatitis B affect your body?

The effects of hepatitis B vary for each individual. Only medical professionals should carry out tests to diagnose hepatitis B.

Symptoms

In about half of those with acute hepatitis B, there are no symptoms, or symptoms are so mild that they are ignored or just attributed to a cold or a mild ‘flu-like’ illness. The symptoms disappear in a few weeks.1 Babies infected from their mothers during birth are especially likely not to have any noticeable symptoms. You may not remember whether or not you had symptoms if you were infected as a child. Very occasionally acute hepatitis B infection may cause fulminant hepatitis (acute liver failure). People who develop fulminant hepatitis need expert medical support in a hospital with intensive specialised treatment, and may ultimately require a liver transplant.1

Living with Hepatitis B

For more than 90% of people infected as adults, the immune system clears the virus from the body in the acute stage. As a result, these people are no longer infectious and they remain immune to further infections. Only about 10% become chronically infected.2

Of those with chronic hepatitis B as many as 60% or more remain well, with no symptoms or problems with the liver or other organs despite having the virus in their body. The only way these people will know that they have hepatitis B is if they have a blood test to look for evidence of the virus or the immune system’s reaction to it. It is important to remember that these people can still pass the virus on to others even if they do not know they have it.3

The remaining 30–40% of people with chronic infection will eventually (often after many years) develop liver inflammation or cirrhosis.4 In these cases symptoms may vary in severity and some people have significant liver damage without symptoms. Symptoms include:2

  • Muscle aches and pains
  • Nausea
  • Lack of appetite
  • Weight loss
  • Intolerance to alcohol
  • Jaundice (a yellowing of the skin and eyes)
  • Depression

People infected as babies are much more likely to carry the virus for the rest of their lives with 90% becoming chronically infected.2 However, about 1 in 5 of these carriers will eventually clear the virus from their body naturally (although this may take many years).2

  • 1 Shiffman ML. Management of acute hepatitis B. Clin Liver Dis. 2010;14(1):75-9.
  • 2 World Health Organization. Hepatitis B Fact sheet No 204. Revised August 2008. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs204/en/. Accessed August 2011.
  • 3 Patient UK. Hepatitis B. Available at: http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Hepatitis-B.htm. Accessed August 2011.
  • 4 Iloeje UH, Yang HI, Su J, et al. Predicting cirrhosis risk based on the level of circulating hepatitis B viral load. Gastroenterology. 2006 Mar;130(3):678-86.