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
