Hepatitis B and C

What is hepatitis B and C?

Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are virus infections of the liver. They can last for years and slowly damage the liver, sometimes causing scarring or liver cancer.

Signs

Most people feel nothing for a long time. Some get yellow skin or eyes, dark pee, tiredness, feeling sick, throwing up or tummy pain.

How it spreads

Through infected blood, such as shared or unclean needles and unchecked blood transfusions, and through sex. Hepatitis B often passes from mother to baby at birth.

How to protect yourself

The hepatitis B vaccine protects for life; babies should get the first dose within a day of birth. There is no hepatitis C vaccine, so avoid shared needles and use condoms.

Get medical help

Ask for a blood test if you might have been exposed, because you cannot tell from how you feel. Medicines control hepatitis B, and hepatitis C can usually be cured.

In Dooram's words, from the World Health Organization. Source: WHO fact sheet: Hepatitis B, read 8 October 2026. General information, not medical advice.