Hepatitis B
Symptoms
Most people who have an acute hepatitis B infection don't have symptoms. But if you do have symptoms, they may include:
- Extreme tiredness (fatigue).
- Mild fever.
- Headache.
- Loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting.
- Constant discomfort on the right side of the belly under the rib cage. (That's where the liver is located.)
- Diarrhea or constipation.
- Muscle aches or joint pain.
- Skin rash.
- Reference Jaundice Opens New Window. This means that the skin and whites of the eyes look yellow. Jaundice is a major sign of liver damage. It usually appears after other symptoms have started to go away.
Most people who have chronic infection have no symptoms.
You may get infected without knowing it. You may not find out that you have an infection until you have a routine blood test or donate blood. Finding out that a family member or someone you live with is infected also may cause you to be tested. Some people never know they have hepatitis B until a doctor finds that they have Reference cirrhosis Opens New Window or Reference liver cancer.
| By: | Reference Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: Reference October 29, 2012 |
| Medical Review: | Reference Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine
Reference W. Thomas London, MD - Hepatology |
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