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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Hepatitis B infection is caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). HBV is passed from person to person through blood, semen or other body fluids. When HBV enters your liver, it invades the liver cells and begins to multiply. This causes inflammation in the liver and leads to the signs and symptoms of hepatitis B infection.
Common ways HBV is transmitted include:
- Sexual contact. You may become infected if you have unprotected sexual contact with an infected partner whose blood, saliva, semen or vaginal secretions enter your body.
- Sharing needles. HBV is easily transmitted through needles and syringes contaminated with infected blood. Sharing intravenous (IV) drug paraphernalia puts you at high risk of hepatitis B.
- Accidental needle sticks. Hepatitis B is a concern for health care workers and anyone else who comes in contact with human blood.
- From mother to child. Pregnant women infected with HBV can pass the virus to their babies during childbirth.
Acute vs. chronic hepatitis B
Hepatitis B infection may be either short-lived (acute hepatitis B) or long lasting (chronic hepatitis B).
- Acute hepatitis B infection lasts less than six months. If the disease is acute, your immune system is usually able to clear the virus from your body, and you should recover completely within a few months. Most people who acquire hepatitis B as adults have an acute infection.
- Chronic hepatitis B infection lasts six months or longer. When your immune system can't fight off the virus, hepatitis B infection may become lifelong, possibly leading to serious illnesses such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Most infants infected with HBV at birth and many children infected between 1 and 5 years of age become chronically infected. Chronic infection may go undetected for decades until a person becomes seriously ill from liver disease.
- FAQs for the public. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/B/bFAQ.htm. Accessed July 24, 2009.
- Hepatitis B. American Liver Foundation. http://www.liverfoundation.org/education/info/hepatitisb/. Accessed July 24, 2009.
- What I need to know about hepatitis B. National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/hepb_ez/index.htm. Accessed July 24, 2009.
- Mast EE, et al. A comprehensive immunization strategy to eliminate transmission of hepatitis B virus in the United States: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) part II: Immunization of adults. MMWR Recommendations and Reports. 2006;55:1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5516a1.htm. Accessed July 24, 2009.
- Understanding hepatitis. American Gastroenterological Association. http://www.gastro.org/frame-templates/print_template.cfm. Accessed July 24, 2009.
- Viral hepatitis screening. American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. http://www.aasld.org/yourliver/Pages/ViralHepatitisScreening.aspx. Accessed July 24, 2009.
- Lok ASF, et al. AASLD practice guidelines: Chronic hepatitis B. Hepatology. 2007;45:507.
- Milk thistle. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/milkthistle/ataglance.htm. Accessed Aug. 4, 2009.
- Mast EE, et al. A comprehensive immunization strategy to eliminate transmission of hepatitis B virus infection in the United States: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) part 1: Immunization of infants, children and adolescents. MMWR Recommendations and Reports. 2005;54:1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5416a1.htm. Accessed July 24, 2009.
- Perrillo R, et al. Hepatitis B and D. In: Feldman M, et al. Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/155081399-2/0/1389/0.html. Accessed Aug. 19, 2009.
