Symptoms Checklist

Symptoms of Hepatitis B

Signs and symptoms of hepatitis B usually occur 9-21 weeks after exposure to the hepatitis B virus.1 Hepatitis B symptoms can range from mild to severe. The most common hepatitis B symptoms are:

  • Tiredness
  • Loss of appetite
  • Nausea or feeling sick to your stomach
  • Stomach pain
  • Weight loss
  • Yellow skin or yellowing of the whites of your eyes (jaundice)
  • Dark coloured urine
  • Clay or whitish coloured bowel movements
  • Pain in your joints

However, it is important to remember that nearly all infants and children,2 and 30 percent of people infected in adulthood,3 do not develop hepatitis B symptoms. The older you are, the more likely you are to have hepatitis B symptoms.

However, even if you don’t have any symptoms, you can unknowingly pass the virus to others.

Get Tested

The only sure way to know if you are infected with the hepatitis B virus is to visit a medical professional and get a hepatitis B blood test.

Risk Factors

There are certain risk factors that may make you more susceptible for becoming infected with hepatitis B. Mother-to-child transmission during birth is the predominant way in which the virus is spread. Other risk factors for hepatitis B transmission include: drug injections; tattoos; other piercing activities; unprotected sex with an infected person; occupational health care risks; and blood transfusions or organ transplants.4

References

1 Center for Disease Control, http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/b/faqb.htm, accessed 1 August 2007
2 World Health Organization, http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/rdonlyres/CEDD5D4E-71BE-49F4-AEEC-1384751598EE/0/POA_HepB.pdf, accessed 22 June 2007
3 Center for Disease Control, http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/b/fact.htm, accessed 22 June 2007
4 World Health Organization, http://www.who.int/csr/disease/hepatitis/whocdscsrlyo20022/en/index3.html, accessed 12 February 2008