Hepatitis B is a viral infection that causes inflammation of the liver. Although the virus is found in nearly all body fluids of infected persons, only blood, saliva, semen, and vaginal fluids have been shown to be infectious. Those at greatest risk of getting hepatitis B include infants born to mothers who are hepatitis B carriers, drug users who share needles, household contacts of hepatitis B carriers, and persons with with multiple sex partners. Others at risk include institutionalized persons, patients receiving dialysis treatments, and health care and laboratory workers who have direct contact with infected blood. The symptoms include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes, joint pain, hives, or rash.
Fever is usually mild or absent.
Some infected individuals show few or no symptoms. The symptoms usually begin about 3 months after infection with the virus, but the onset may range from 2 to 6 months. Hepatitis B virus is present in the blood and other body fluids of an infected person several weeks before symptoms start, and the person remains infectious to others for months afterward. If a person becomes a carrier of the hepatitis B virus, they remain potentially infectious to others indefinitely. An antiviral medication is now available that has been shown to help in some people with hepatitis B. For more information, contact your doctor.