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Symptoms can vary a great deal from person to person, and the symptoms for various conditions can be identical.  
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You are in Home > Sexual Health> STI Factfiles: Hepatitis B

HEPATITIS B

Hepatitis B is an infection of the liver caused by a virus, and it is extremely common – the NHS estimates that as many as 1 in every 1,000 people have it acutely, and the Hepatitis B Foundation estimates that as many as 326,000 people have it chronically. It causes inflammation and swelling of the liver, and can lead to very significant liver damage. It is transmitted via contact with body fluids such as blood, saliva, semen and vaginal fluid, hence its inclusion as a sexually transmitted infection. As with so many other STI's, a great many people do not even realise they have been infected because the symptoms may not develop immediately, and may not develop at all.

Unprotected sex (without using a condom) and the sharing of needles to inject drugs are primary means of contracting the disease, and it is so prevalent because it is highly infectious: 100 times more infectious than HIV.

The time it takes from coming into contact with the virus to developing infection (incubation) is between one and six months. Infected mothers often pass the disease to their children during childbirth, and in these cases the child will often develop a chronic case lasting well in excess of six months. This is less common in adult-to-adult infection, but does occur in as many as 10% of cases.

SYMPTOMS

Most healthy people who have become infected are able to fight off the virus, sometimes with symptoms so negligible they may not even know they have it. However whilst infected, such people can of course infect others. Where symptoms do develop, they include flu-like symptoms such as tiredness, headaches, general aches and pains throughout the body and often headaches and fever.

Stomach pains, diarrhoea, loss of appetite and jaundice are also very common. Hepatitis B is a serious illness, but there is also a more serious (and fortunately rare) form of the disease called Fulminant Hepatitis B which is often fatal.

TREATMENT

The best course of action is of course prevention: safe sexual practices and for those at risk through lifestyle or those travelling to areas where Hepatitis B is considered high risk, such as Central and South America, there is an effective preventative vaccine.  Acute or short-term Hepatitis B is usually supporte rather than treated; i.e. one doesn't have a specific treatment regime but is advised to rest, eat healthily and avoid alcohol and foods which put any strain on the liver. Most people recover completely within a few months.

Treatment for chronic Hepatitis may be through the use of Interferon, which prevents the virus from multiplying inside your body, or from a range of antiviral drugs used singly or in combination.