Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B is a serious infection that's caused by the Hepatitis B virus when it penetrates your liver and infects it. The symptoms will vary depending on the grade of infection. Sometimes the symptoms can be very mild or not even noticeable.

Symptoms that men and women may experience

In general, a person that has Hepatitis B will notice very little or nothing at all of this. A certain amount of people that have the infection will stat notice symptoms between 2 to 6 months after picking up the infection.

Symptoms include : fatigue, upset stomach, nausea, fever and sometimes even pain in the joints. After the symptoms manifest, the skin might get a yellowish color as will the white portion of the eyes. The urine will also get very dark while the stool gets a very light color.

The Symptoms might last a few weeks or even a few months. Even though some of the others may go away, the fatigue might remain for a couple of months. When the virus leaves the body, the liver will start to recover from the infection and the symptoms will start to go away. This is the case with 90 % of the patients.

In 5 to 10 % of the cases, the Hepatitis may remain for years or even for ever in the person's body. The body does not produce anti-bodies anymore against it and the person is then a carrier of the virus. Symptoms might go away but the person will still carry the virus and can still infect others with the disease.

Treatment

There does not exist a treatment yet to cure Hepatitis B, it has resolve by itself. If someone has Hepatitis B, it's recommended to get a lot of rest because that may prevent further consequences. Stay away from alcohol and any food that the liver can't support. Also, stay away from certain medicines, unless prescribed by your doctor.

Possible consequences

In rare cases (1 %), the liver infection can get so bad that it completely destroys the liver which may lead to death. The most frequent complication from Hepatitis B is that the person may become a carrier of the virus. It's only after 6 months of becoming infected that this can be determined. A small portion of the carriers can stay with the infection in their livers and this could also lead to liver cancer at a later age in life.