What is it?

HBV can affect anyone. Each year in the United States, more than 200,000 people of all ages get hepatitis B and close to 5,000 die of sickness caused by HBV. If you have had other forms of hepatitis, you can still get hepatitis B.

HCV is serious for some persons, but not for others. Most persons who get HCV carry the virus for the rest of their lives. Most have some liver damage, cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver and liver failure, which may take many years to develop. Some do not feel sick from the disease.

A person can spread HAV about one week before symptoms appear and during the first week of symptoms. Persons with no symptoms can still spread the virus. This often happens with young children who unknowingly spread HAV to older children and adults.

You can also get HAV by:

Swallowing contaminated water or ice

Eating raw shellfish harvested from sewage-contaminated water

Eating fruits, vegetables, or other food that may have become contaminated during handling

Use of street drugs

Casual contact as in the usual office, factory or school setting, does not spread the virus.

Direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person

Having sex or sharing needles with an infected person. 

Use of street drugs

A baby can get hepatitis B from an infected mother during childbirth.

Women who are infected with HBV can give it to their  babies. Babies who get HBV at birth may have the virus for the rest of their lives. They can spread the disease, and get cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer.

Sometimes, people who are infected with HBV never recover fully from the infection.  They can remain infectious for the rest of their lives. In the United States, about one million people carry HBV.

Hepatitis B is not spread through food or water or by casual contact.

You can get HCV by:

The use of tattoo or body piercing tools with someone else’s blood on them,

The artist or piercer doesn’t follow good health practices, such as washing hands and using disposable gloves.

Sexual contact with multiple partners

Use of street drugs

Hepatitis C virus is NOT spread by:

Breast feeding 
Sneezing  
Hugging  
Coughing  
Food or water  
Casual contact  
Sharing eating utensils  
Drinking glasses

Have household or sexual contacts with someone who has HAV

Travel to countries where HAV is common and where clean water and proper sewage disposal are not available

Are a man who has sex with men

Persons using street drugs

Children and employees in child care centers (especially centers that have children in diapers).

Residents and staff of institutions for developmentally disabled persons

Workers who handle HAV-infected non-human primates or work with HAV in a research laboratory setting, (excluding  laboratories doing routine testing)

Persons with clotting factor disorders who receive factor concentrates.

You’re at risk if you:

Have sexual contact with an  HBV person

Have multiple sex partners

Are a man who has sex with men

Household contact  with someone who has chronic HBV infection

Work with human blood products

Shoot street drugs

live or work in a home for the developmentally disabled

Have hemophilia

Travel to areas where HBV is common.

If your parents were born in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Amazon Basin in South America, the Pacific Islands,

And the Middle East.

hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccines.

Could I already have hepatitis C?

Ask your doctor for a blood test for hepatitis C if:

You ever injected street drugs, even if you experimented a few times many years ago.

You were treated for clotting problems with a blood product made before 1987.

You received a blood transfusion or solid organ transplant (e.g., kidney, liver, heart) before July 1992, or you were notified that you received blood that possibly contained HCV.

You were ever on long-term kidney dialysis.

If you have symptoms:

Your eyes may turn yellow and you may have dark urine

You may be tired

You may lose your appetite

You may have nausea, vomiting, fever, or stomach ache

Unlike HBV and HCV, HAV causes no long-term liver damage and usually does not cause death. There is no chronic carrier state with HAV. Having had the disease produces lifelong immunity from future HAV Infection.

If you have symptoms:

Your eyes or skin may turn yellow

You may lose your appetite

You may have nausea, vomiting, fever, stomach or joint pain

You may feel extremely tired and not be able to work for weeks or months

Why should I be tested for hepatitis C?

Early diagnosis is important so you can:

Be checked for liver disease.

Get treatment, if indicated. Drugs are licensed for the treatment of persons with long-term hepatitis C.

Learn how you can protect your  liver from further harm.

Learn how you can prevent spreading HCV to others.

Hepatitis A vaccines provide long-term protection against hepatitis A and are licensed for use in persons 2 years of age and older.  Children and adults need two shots of

hepatitis A vaccine for long-term protection.

Who should receive hepatitis A vaccine?

Persons who work in or travel to areas where hepatitis A is common (first dose should be given at least 4 weeks before travel)

Children in communities with high rates of hepatitis A, such as Alaska Native villages, American Indian reservations, and Pacific Islander and selected religious communities.

Men who have sex with men

Persons who use street drugs

Persons with chronic liver disease

Persons with clotting factor disorders,

such as hemophilia

Persons who work with HAV-infected non-human primates or work with HAV in a research setting (hepatitis A vaccine is not generally recommended for health care workers)

Anyone who wants protection

Hepatitis A is preventable, get vaccinated!

Hepatitis B vaccine is the best protection against HBV. Three doses are needed for complete protection.

Who should get vaccinated?

All babies, beginning at birth, should get hepatitis B vaccine.

All children 11-12 years of age who have not been vaccinated

Persons of any age whose behavior puts them at high risk for HBV infection

Persons whose jobs expose them to human blood.

All pregnant women should be tested for HBV early in their pregnancy. Babies born to HBV positive mothers , should receive vaccine along with, hepatitis B immune globulin (called H-BIG), at birth. The vaccine series should be completed during the first 6 months of live.

Hepatitis B is preventable.

Get vaccinated!

Don’t ever shoot drugs. If you shoot drugs, stop and get into a treatment program. If you can’t stop, never reuse or share syringes, water, or drug works, and get vaccinated against hepatitis A and hepatitis B.

Do not share toothbrushes, razors, or other personal care articles.

Health care workers should always follow routine barrier precautions and safely handle needles and other sharps.  Get vaccinated for HBV

Consider the health risks if you are thinking about getting a tattoo or body piercing.

Use latex condoms correctly and every time.

The surest way to prevent the spread of any disease by sex is not to have sex at all.

There is no vaccine to prevent hepatitis C.