Typically, once the symptoms of hepatitis become obvious, chronic liver disease and liver damage are well underway.
Serious liver damage can have dire and even life-threatening complications such as cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Verywell / Gary Ferster
Symptoms
Symptoms of the three types of hepatitis vary little.
Verywell / Gary Ferster
However,fatigue can persistfor weeks and, in some cases, even months.
In most cases, acute symptoms resolve in about four to eight weeks.
(One exception ishepatitis D, in which acute liver damage is more common.)
These begin to build up faster than the body can break them down.
Over time, the process causes the progressive accumulation of scar tissue, known asfibrosis.
In some cases, it can remain stable or even regress over time.
Cirrhosis symptoms can vary, depending on the stage of progression.
There are two classifications of liver cirrhosis, compensated and decompensated.
Glomerulonephritis
This kidney disorder most commonly is associated with untreated chronic hepatitis B or hepatitis C infections.
Also called portosystemic encephalopathy, HE affects both physical and mental functioning.
As pressure builds, life-threatening swelling and bleeding of various internal tissues and organs can result.
What’s more, symptoms often aren’t apparent until damage to the liver is well underway.
From there, testing can be done to confirm the diagnosis.
Approximately 25% of hepatitis B cases can be cured with specific drugs given weekly via injection.
Hepatitis C is treated with antiviral medication that cures up to 90% or more of cases.
Hepatitis A has an incubation period that ranges from 15 to 50 days before symptoms appear.
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