Hepatitis B and C can become chronic. Long-term effects include cirrhosis, liver cancer, and fatal liver failure. Although some people with chronic hepatitis C do not show any signs of liver damage, they can still infect others. Other people suffer liver damage, and the disease worsens as time goes on. Chronic hepatitis B and C are more likely in people with weakened immune systems, like HIV positive people.
Chronic hepatitis can damage the liver so much that it can no longer function properly.
This condition is called liver failure . Liver failure caused by chronic hepatitis is the major reason for liver transplants in the U.S. Untreated liver failure is fatal. Diagnosis of Hepatitis A doctor usually makes a diagnosis of hepatitis after looking at different factors. Because the flu-like symptoms are common to many other diseases besides hepatitis, relying on just these symptoms is not the best way to diagnosis hepatitis. A person with hepatitis may also feel tenderness or pain in the upper right part of the abdomen.