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What Is Hepatitis B?

Summary & Participants

Hepatitis B is a viral infection of the liver often spread through sexual contact. But people are usually unaware they carry the virus. Find out if you are at risk for hepatitis B.

Medically Reviewed On: July 05, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Hepatitis B is a viral infection of the liver that affects over a million Americans. Found in blood and certain body fluids, the hepatitis B virus can be spread in a number of ways.

EMMET KEEFFE, MD: Most of hepatitis B is spread by sexual contact with an infected individual or by use of intravenous drugs. Fortunately, our blood supply now has been clean from hepatitis B. All blood donors are checked for hepatitis B. If that blood unit's positive, it's discarded. So blood now is only an extremely rare way that hepatitis B can be spread.

Hepatitis B can also be spread by needle sticks, so physicians and nurses and other health care workers are at risk, but fortunately most health care workers now have become vaccinated to eliminate the risk for hepatitis B.

ANNOUNCER: Sharing personal products with an infected person can also be a mode of transmission.

EMMET KEEFFE, MD: We know that hepatitis B is a virus that is in blood. So we counsel patients not to share any personal items that might have particles of blood on them. The virus may last for a while on surfaces, so you don't want to share a razor or a toothbrush with a partner who you know has hepatitis B.

ANNOUNCER: People at higher risk for hepatitis B include men who have sex with other men, children of immigrants from countries with high hepatitis B rates, such as Asia and India, and children born to infected mothers. But hepatitis B is often an under-diagnosed disease because infected people can often show no symptoms and can live for years without knowing they have the disease.

EMMET KEEFFE, MD: There are about 150 to 300,000 new cases per year in the US. Most individuals are asymptomatic. They don't know they're infected. Hepatitis B might also be identified when you go to get your first life insurance policy, or if you're a good soul and you go to become a blood donor, you'll be notified by the blood bank that you have hepatitis B. So the first detection is often quite coincidental.

ANNOUNCER: This "coincidental detection" occurs because hepatitis B presents in two phases. In an "acute" infection, people often are ill with flu-like symptoms. The acute symptoms usually go away by themselves over a short period of time, but may lead to a "chronic" infection, which is usually more serious. Chronic infections may last a lifetime and can result in cirrhosis of the liver, potentially leading to cancer of the liver or liver failure.

EMMET KEEFFE, MD: When hepatitis B occurs acutely in a child, it's often asymptomatic. When it occurs in an adult, 50 percent or more will have symptoms, and the symptoms are typically flulike symptoms, and if it's severe, there may be jaundice.

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